


Make A Martyr Out of Me

by ownedbythestars (ljrvs)



Series: Linked by the Universe [4]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, All the Background, BAMF Jessika Pava, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Friendship, Gen, Hurt Poe Dameron, Jessika Pava has a Past, Male-Female Friendship, Mentions of Slavery, Pansexual Poe Dameron, Past Child Abuse, Poe Dameron Hurts So Prettily, Poe Dameron Is A Mess, Poe Dameron Is an Idiot, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Poe Dameron Whump, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, References to Star Wars: Aftermath Trilogy, Rescue Missions, Revenge, Series, Star Wars: Before the Awakening - Freeform, Star Wars: Before the Awakening Book Compliant, Star Wars: Bloodline References, Star Wars: Bloodline-Compliant, Strong Female Characters, Women Being Awesome, poe dameron comics, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:14:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 81,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25947169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ljrvs/pseuds/ownedbythestars
Summary: “I’ll make an example out of you, Dameron,” Hux growled. “Record your death and send it to anyone with a comm frequency in the entire galaxy: The New Republic Fleet, the Resistance, the Senate—everyone. Let them watch as the light leaves their poster boy’s eyes. After that, no one will dare stand against the First Order.”“No, you’ll make a martyr out of me,” Poe grinned madly. “And that’s much more dangerous.” He could taste the blood in his mouth. “Because behind a martyr…is a belief. And you can’t kill a belief.”---Muran was killed by the First Order. Everyone knows it, but the NRDF isn't willing to do anything about it or even admit it. Poe is about to be court-martialed, but can't stop moving. Something else is moving on Arkanis--something dark. To find out what, Poe is willing to risk everything--his career, capture, even death. Jess, though, isn't willing to lose what she's finally found and will take her own risks to make sure that it doesn't happen.
Relationships: Jessika Pava & Niv Lek, Poe Dameron & Jessika Pava
Series: Linked by the Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658350
Comments: 28
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

31 ABY

“Hey,” Niv nudged Jess’s arm, “look who’s back from Mirrin Prime.” He nodded to two familiar figures in orange flightsuits. Jess grinned—she knew those two pilots. And if they were here, chances were good her best friend was, too.

“Karé! Iolo! When did you get back?” Jess greeted brightly, approaching the two pilots from behind. When they turned around, she knew something was wrong. “What is it?” she asked, sobering quickly. She gently placed her hand on Karé’s shoulder.

Karé inhaled sharply and clenched her jaw, turning away from Jess.

“Iolo?” Jess asked cautiously. “Where is Muran? Poe?”

“Dameron’s in with Major Deso and Vice Admiral Vistlor,” Iolo said, his voice hollow. “Muran…Muran died.”

“What! When? How?” Niv asked.

“Happened a couple days ago. We got a distress call from the a ship, the _Yissira Zyde,_ while on patrol. When we got there, the First Order was already there, taking control of the ship. We engaged, took out 8 TIEs, but they commandeered the ship and made the jump to hyperspace. Muran was caught in their wake—couldn’t eject,” Karé told them, her jaw tight.

“Poe’s not being held responsible for Muran’s death, is he?” Jess asked.

“No,” Karé shook her head. “Deso said it was an unfortunate accident. Said he wouldn’t do anything about the First Order.” 

“You all disagree?”

“Vehemently,” Iolo growled.

“Poe went off by himself—found Star Destroyers, hundreds of TIEs, supply ships, troop carriers. More than intelligence believes made it out of the Battle of Jakku.” Karé told them. “When Deso found out what Poe had done, he lost it. Brought us all here to push Command to court-martial Poe.”

“They can’t do that! He’s one of the best pilots in the fleet!” Jess growled.

“But he’s just one pilot,” Iolo reminded her, “and we’re just one squadron. Not even a complete squadron anymore. Command can’t appear to tolerate insubordination from their pilots. Even their best.”

“We don’t think they’ll imprison him, but they could. More likely, he’ll be dishonorably discharged,” Karé told them. “Not that it matters,” she added under her breath.

“What does that mean?” Niv asked.

“Nothing,” Karé said quickly.

“What would that mean for you two?” Jess asked.

“Reassignment, probably,” Iolo said. “They’re not gonna promote either of us to lead Rapier Squadron. When a commanding officer gets court-martialed, their subordinates never get promoted.”

“That’s bantha shit,” Jess growled. “You’re some of the best pilots in the fleet.”

Iolo grinned wryly. “You wouldn’t know that with the assignments we’ve been given.”

“What does that mean?”

Iolo shook his head. “We ran the same patrol for weeks with nothing. The only reason we found something was because of an SOS that pulled us off course.” He looked at Karé. “Hope that changes.”

“Why are you guys being so secretive?” Niv asked, his frustration growing.

“It’s complicated,” Karé sighed. “There’s a lot we can’t say.”

“Can’t say what?” Jess stared at Karé. “What’s going on?”

“Jess…please, just let it go,” Karé whispered. “I wish we could tell you what’s going on, but we _can’t,_ ” she sighed. “I promise, I’m just trying to keep you safe. Okay?”

Jess held Karé’s gaze for a long time before nodding. “Can I help?”

“No,” Karé shook her head. “Thank you, but there’s nothing to be done.”

“Okay,” she said softly and put her hand on Karé’s shoulder. “You tell me if that changes.”

“Of course.” Karé forced a smile, but it was weak.

Jess nodded and squeezed Karé’s shoulder before she turned to walk away.

“Wait, where are you going?” Iolo asked. Jess turned to face them, but kept walking backwards.

“To find Poe. Sounds like he needs it,” she called and spun back around, headed towards Command offices.

\---

Jess leaned against the wall outside Vice Admiral Vistlor’s office. The walls were thick enough that Jess couldn’t make out what was being said in the room, but she could hear the anger and the tension in the muffled voices.

She had been waiting there for the better part of an hour when the door suddenly opened and Poe Dameron stormed out, dressed in his blue dress uniform.

“Poe,” Jess said and straightened up from her place on the wall.

Poe whipped around, his eyes flashing angerly. “Jess,” he whispered. His expression softened. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw Kun and Arana. They told me what happened,” she said, stepping closer and taking his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

Poe clenched his jaw and looked away.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“No, not really. Just…” he sighed and turned back at her. “It’s really good to see you.” He gently pulled her into a hug. “Really, really good.”

“Can you talk? I’ll buy you dinner? A drink?” Jess offered, looking up at him.

“I wish I could,” Poe smiled sadly as he stepped back. “But…” he waved his hand vaguely back towards Vistlor’s office, “…I’m pretty sure I’m otherwise engaged for the rest of the day.” His eyes hardened as he stared at the closed door.

Jess reached out and turned Poe’s face back to her. “Hey, tell me what’s going on,” she said. “Kun said Deso wanted to court-martial you?”

Poe scoffed. “He’s trying. But there’s a lot of red tape.”

“Poe, this is serious.”

“Believe me, Jess, I know,” he squeezed her hand. “Look, I’ve gotta go. I’ve only got a 15 minute recess before I’m due back in there. Maybe I can catch you before we leave Republic City?”

“Yeah,” Jess nodded, concerned for her friend. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

Poe sighed and pulled her back into a hug. “I’m sorry I’m not back under better circumstances,” he whispered.

“Me too,” Jess agreed.

Poe kissed her hair and stepped back, taking her hands. “I’ll see you around, okay? I promise.”

Jess couldn’t shake the feeling that Poe was looking at her like it was the last time he’d see her. “I’ll come to your quarters tonight—dinner, drinks, something. You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”

Poe nodded. “Sure. Ok. I’ll…uh…see you tonight. 1900?”

Jess squeezed his hands. “Sure thing, Boss.” She gave her best effort to smile and watched as he walked away down the corridor. She couldn’t say why, but she had a bad feeling about this.

\---

At 1900, Jess knocked sharply on Poe’s door. There was no answer.

“Poe?” she called, knocking again. “Hey, it’s Jess. You here?”

Still no answer. She took out her datapad and typed out a message. She heard the ping from inside the room and felt her blood run cold.

“Poe?” she shouted, hitting the door again. “This isn’t funny, Poe. Open the door.”

A thump from the other side of the door surprised Jess.

“Poe?” she called again. The thump happened again. And again. Rhythmically knocking into the door. Jess tapped the access pad and typed in Poe’s emergency override code. The door opened and a small white and orange droid came rolling out.

“BeeBeeAte, what are you doing here?” Jess asked the droid.

A flurry of beeps and whistles erupted from the droid. Jess listened carefully, her gut sinking by the second.

“Kriff,” she swore, and took off down the hall. She hoped she wasn’t too late.

\---

Poe quietly made his way towards his ship, avoiding as many cameras as he could. He kept pushing the guilt of locking his droid in his quarters and bailing on his friend to the back of his mind. He couldn’t think about that right now. Right now, he could only think about getting to his ship, getting off of Hosnian Prime, and avenging Muran. Nothing else could matter. 

“Poe!” a voice rang out.

Poe turned to see who shouted his name to find Jess sprinting towards him.

“Jess,” he whispered, unsure if he was relieved or disappointed to see her. _At least someone will know where you went if you don’t come back_ , a dark part of his brain told him.

“Where are you going?” she demanded once she’d caught up with him.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“I went to your quarters to meet you for dinner. 1900, remember? And I found BeeBeeAte, locked in your quarters. Said you told them that once someone let them out, to go to Kun’s temp quarters ‘until you return or otherwise’. What does that mean? Where are you going?”

Poe looked away. “I got a lead.”

“A lead on what?”

“The First Order.”

Jess froze in her tracks while Poe kept walking. She jogged to catch up to Poe. “You’re kidding.”

“It’s good intel.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.” Jess’s exasperation was growing. “Boss, you’re facing a court-martial for the last time you did this. If you leave now, you’ll miss your next formal hearing. You might as well not come back! It doesn’t matter how good you are, they won’t _take_ you back!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Poe replied, “it won’t matter.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing, Jess. It’s nothing.”

“Just…stop it. Stop telling me it’s ‘nothing.’ Why are you and Karé and Iolo all being so cryptic? What’s happening? What aren’t you telling me?”

“J…”

“Don’t you dare tell me to ‘trust you’ or it’s for my ‘safety’. I’m not an idiot. I know something’s up. Forget about your career and court-martial, why are you willing to risk your life on this lead? Why are you willing to face the First Order alone? Going in alone with no backup? It’s a suicide mission. You have to see that!”

Poe sighed. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“Getting yourself killed is not the right thing to do,” Jess argued. “Take it to Command. Get it authorized, get back-up, get…something!”

“Jess—do you think this was my first choice? I’m a good pilot. I’m loyal to the NRDF. You know that! I tried to take it to Command and get it authorized. The NRDF isn’t doing anything! Whether that’s their call or comes from somewhere higher—the Senate, maybe—I don’t know. What I do know is that I can’t wait for them to decide that the First Order is a real threat. I can’t let what happened to Muran happen to anyone else. I have information that needs to be acted upon now, so I’m going.”

Jess growled and ran a few steps ahead of him to stop in his path. “Dammit, Poe, stop! Just talk to me!”

“Move Jess,” Poe said, his face set with angry lines.

“What’s going on in your head right now, man? You aren’t thinking straight. This isn’t a calculated risk, this isn’t strategic. It’s reckless and you know it. And reckless is how you get hurt. _You_ taught me that!” 

Poe stepped around Jess and took a few steps before stopping. “Maybe you’re right,” he said, not turning to face his friend. “Maybe this isn’t a calculated risk. Maybe this is reckless. Hell, it probably is. But I’ve tried to do it the right way.” Poe’s voice was a low, hollow whisper. When he did turn to face Jess, his eyes were haunted, pleading with her to understand. “When I took it to Command, they told me to forget about it. Told me that even if the First Order was out there, they didn’t constitute a big enough threat for the NRDF to respond. For us to _do anything_ about it. They don’t get it! None of them do. Command is doing everything they can to support Chancellor Villecham’s opinion that the First Order isn’t a threat. And they’re going to get people killed because of it.”

Jess closed the gap between them and put her hands on his shoulders. “So we find another way! Rushing off to find the First Order again to take scans, images, and counts is idiotic and you know it. You barely escaped last time you tried to square off _alone_ against the First Order. What makes you think this will be any different?”

Poe sighed and leaned his forehead to touch hers. “It might not be any different. Probably won’t be. But what happened with the _Yissira Zyde,_ what happened to Muran…it’s going to happen again. And it will be bigger. I can feel it in my gut. And no one seems to realize it. I’ve gotta do what I can to stop it.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “You think this will lead to war.”

“I think it might,” Poe allowed.

“Poe, whatever you’re planning, don’t do this. It’s not worth it. Let me help you! You have friends. Me and Kun and Arana and Lek—we’re all in. Whatever you need, you got it. We’ve got your back. Just…man, don’t get in that ship right now. There’s no way this is going to go the way you think it will,” Jess pleaded with him.

Poe stepped back and took her hands in his, holding them in front of him. “I have to do this, J, I’m sorry,” he said with a squeeze before turning and walking away from her.

Jess stood where Poe had left her, fighting back frustrated tears. Poe was almost out of the hanger when Jess shouted after him, “At least tell me where you’re going?”

Poe turned and gave a sad attempt at his trademark smile. “I’ll be back. I promise,” he said before turning back around and exiting the hanger.

“Poe!” Jess shouted again, but he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more story time. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though. At least, never intentionally.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

__________

“Pava! Where are you?” Niv called as he entered Bay 12—Striker Squadron’s berth.

“Here!” a hand waved from under Striker 4.

“What are you working on?” Niv asked as he drew closer.

“Deflector shield’s been giving off some minor power fluctuations in my readings,” Jess explained from under her X-Wing. “Wanted to check it out before my next flight.”

“How minor?”

“.3-.7%,” she answered.

“So, you’re tinkering to distract yourself,” Niv surmised as he squatted to get a better look at his friend. “I take it still no word from Dameron, then?”

“Hand me that spanner,” she said, holding her hand out. Niv put the tool in her hand and watched it disappear back under the ship.

“You can’t ignore me forever,” Niv told Jess. “You haven’t heard from him, have you? How long has it been?”

“Little over two weeks.”

“And you’re worried.”

Jess sighed and slid out from under the ship. “It’s not like we haven’t gone weeks without talking before this. I’m here, he’s on Mirrin Prime. We’ve gone months before. But this…this feels different. Something’s wrong. I know it. So, yeah, I’m worried.”

“What, like a Jedi? Channeling your inner Luke Skywalker?” Niv teased and waved his hand in a Jedi-like motion.

“I wish,” Jess laughed and reached up for Niv to help pull her to her feet. Once she was standing, she wiped the oil off of her hands an onto a rag before looking back at Niv with a sober expression. “No, I can just tell…something’s wrong. I’ve had a bad feeling since he left.”

“Look, it’s Dameron. He probably went to blow off some steam. Shoot down some pirates or smugglers, drink a few beers, sleep with a local hottie or two. He’ll be back before you know it,” Niv told her, leaning against the nose cone of her ship. 

“Maybe,” Jess replied, but didn’t believe it. Niv hadn’t known about Poe’s relationship with Muran, or that it had been almost two years since Poe’s last anonymous sex partner.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Jess.”

“I’m not,” she said softly.

Jess’s datapad pinged from her pocket just as Niv’s pinged in his. They each pulled out their device and looked at the message.

“Kun?” Niv asked.

“Yep,” Jess nodded. “Landing Bay 59. Let’s go.”

The two pilots made their way to the distant bay, trying to avoid attracting any attention to themselves. The base had 65 landing bays, but bays 50-65 were reserved for wartime and were rarely, if ever, used during times of peace. Jess couldn’t remember ever going to a bay beyond 44. When they stepped into the landing bay, it was all but empty—a few power couplings and a tool bench with some spare parts in one corner, and a small stack of crates along another wall were all that filled the vast hanger, with no sign of Karé or Iolo. The door slid closed heavily behind them.

“Hello?” Jess called tentatively. It was unnerving being in the empty hanger. Usually there was noise and motion in a landing bay, even late at night. And there were usually more than a few pilots around, working on their ship or their astromech. This stillness felt unnatural.

“Thank you for coming,” Karé’s voice greeted them. The pair turned to see her and Iolo step out from behind the stack of crates.

“What’s going on?” Niv asked.

“Poe’s in trouble.”

Jess shot a look at Niv before turning back to Karé. “What happened? Where is he?”

“Before he left, I made him agree to a check in system.”

“You knew he was going?”

“Yes.”

“And you let him go?” Jess demanded.

“So did you,” Iolo shot back. “Listen, we don’t have time to get into this.”

“What was your check-in system?” Niv interrupted. “What did you get from him?” 

“Not much—no intel or details, just a ping to my datapad once a day that meant he was still alive. After he missed three days of check-ins, we tracked his ship to Arkanis.” Karé told them.

“Wait, you put a tracer on his ship?” Jess asked.

“Obviously,” Iolo replied as if it should have been a given.

“Why would he go there?” Niv asked.

“Following a lead about Muran’s…” Karé didn’t continue. She motioned for Iolo to take over.

“Since Muran died,” he swallowed hard, “Poe’s become obsessed with finding out more about the First Order and what they were doing. He holds them responsible for Muran.”

“You said he went off on his own—that’s why Deso brought him here.”

“Yeah,” Iolo replied.

“So what does that have to do with Arkanis?”

“You remember a few years ago, when Ransolm Casterfo told everyone that Princess Leia Organa is the daughter of Darth Vader?” Karé asked.

Jess stared at her. She doubted anyone could forget that day. “Of course.”

"Hard to forget," Niv agreed. 

“Casterfo got his information from Carise Sindian. Senator from Arkanis.”

“And it’s the home world of Brendol Hux—a dangerous former Imperial.”

Jess closed her eyes and tilted her head back. “They’re First Order supporters.”

“That’s what Poe seems to think,” Iolo agreed.

"And we agree," Karé added.

“Not to be rude, but why call us?” Niv asked. “Why not just go after him yourselves?”

“After what happened in the Mirrin sector, we’re being watched. Closely.” Karé told them.

Jess chanced a glance up to where she knew a camera array was located.

“Looped,” Karé told her, following her gaze. “But because Deso has eyes on us, we can’t go.”

“But we can,” Jess’s eyes were hard.

“Yeah, you can,” Iolo agreed. “We have a contact who we think can help you. To our knowledge, she hasn’t seen Poe, but she can give you some direction at least. Get you in.”

“You trust her?”

"Well, technically, she's not our contact," Karé winced. "So do _we_ trust her? Not really. She’s a bounty hunter."

"Who's contact is she?" Jess demanded.

"She's Wexley's contact. So she's good." 

"Does _Wexley_ trust her, then?" Jess asked.

“I mean, yeah. I think so. She hates the First Order, and she’s worked with Snap and Norra Wexley, so there's history. And...she’s the best we’ve got.”

“Promising,” Niv said darkly.

“Commander Wexley is contacting her, asking for a favor. If she gets one, it’s the best lead you’ll have on planet.”

“So this bounty hunter hasn’t actually agreed to help us yet.”

“No, not yet. But we have reason to believe she will. We’re pretty sure we can get you a ship, too,” Karé added. “You can’t take your X-Wings and you can’t take a NRDF ship, but a guy down in the shipyards owes me a favor.”

“Right, 100% off the record,” Jess nodded, “we can do that.”

“It’s more than that. Jess, Niv, you need to understand—if something goes wrong, there’s no one coming for you. No one can help you. No involvement,” Iolo told them. “This is off the books in every possible way. You’re going without telling the NRDF—Wexley isn’t even telling Antilles. The Navy has to have have total and complete deniability.”

“We can't just request time off. And the bureaucracy of the Navy is legendary, so how do we get out?” Niv asked.

“Put in for emergency leave,” Iolo told them. “There are people who will push it through.”

“How do you know that?” Jess asked.

“We can’t, Jess,” Karé told her. “Just…trust me.”

“Fine,” Jess said, turning back to Iolo. “We put in for leave. It gets pushed through, then what?”

“You get on the ship we provide for you and you go to Arkanis. We’ll set up a meeting for you with Wexley’s contact and you’ll go from there,” Iolo explained.

“That’s…loose,” Jess said after a beat.

“It’s the best we have. We don’t know where exactly he is or what kind of trouble he’s gotten into. All we know is where he landed his ship and that he stopped checking in.”

“You’re saying that we’re supposed to be looking for one New Republic pilot on a planet that’s a former Imperial Stronghold and likely a First Order Supporter with no plan beyond assuming that our leave will be pushed through, taking an unmarked ship to a locator beacon on the previously mentioned hostile planet for a meeting with a bounty hunter—who hasn’t actually agreed to helping us yet nor has she actually seen previously mentioned pilot—in an attempt to find said pilot without knowing anything about where he is, what he was doing, or what kind of trouble he's in, all with absolutely no backup? Am I missing something?” Niv said, his voice just this side of panicked.

“You’re right, it’s stupid and insane. We know that. And you don’t have to say yes,” Karé said quietly, looking at the floor.

Jess looked at Niv. He gave her an exasperated look before sighing and mouthing ‘ _Fine’_ to her.

“When do we leave?” Jess asked.

Karé looked up with a small grin. “Tomorrow morning. Before sunrise. We’ll get your leave pushed through tonight.” She reached out and took Jess’s hand. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Jess smiled and squeezed her hand.

“Go, put in for your leave and get some sleep,” Iolo said. “Your window is small. We can’t miss it.”

\---

In the pre-dawn grey, Jess and Niv made their way down to the shipping yards. They had each received a message approving their emergency leave the night before, followed by a message from Karé about when and where to meet them.

“You sure you want to do this?” Jess asked. “You don’t have to come with me.”

“Like I would let you fly into unknown danger without your wingman,” Niv replied with a forced grin. “And I’m not so keen on leaving Dameron in the hands of the First Order, either.” Something caught Niv’s attention in front of them and his face fell. “And then there’s that.”

Jess turned to see what he’d been looking at. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she groaned.

Karé and Iolo stood in front of an ancient JM-5K. There were dents and rust everywhere with faded paint and some debatable looking welds. Jess trusted Karé and Iolo to not intentionally kill them, but this ship didn’t seem space-worthy. 

“Where did they find that?” Niv asked.

“No idea. Junk heap?” Jess muttered.

“Morning,” Karé greeted.

“So this is the ship you said you would get us,” Jess said slowly.

“It’s not much to look at…” Karé started.

“Clearly,” Jess deadpanned.

“…but she’s got it where it counts.”

“This ship has got to be nearly 80 years old!” Niv said as he walked around the ship. “JM-5K’s were discontinued around the Clone Wars.”

“They were,” Iolo agreed with a roguish smile, “and the hull might be that old, but check out her engine.”

Niv looked at him sideways before following him into the ship. “Kriffing shit!” he shouted a moment later.

“What did you guys do?” Jess asked Karé.

“Not our handiwork, but there are some…pretty impressive modifications on this ship,” she replied slyly. “Engine, weapons, hyperdrive, crew quarters, shields—whole thing. The guy who we got the ship from basically gutted it and custom built it to his own standards. He does good work. The outside isn’t impressive, but like I said, she’s got it where it counts.”

"Is she actually spaceworthy? The hull looks...questionable."

"One hundred percent. All the damage you see? It's cosmetic. And intentional—it's the kind of ship that doesn't draw attention. But she's fast. She'll get you where you need to go to get Dameron." 

“5K’s are two-person ships.”

“Not this one. Modified, remember?” Karé gave a reassuring smile. “Our contact says it’ll support four humans uncomfortably for two standard weeks. It's fully stocked: food, caf, medkit, fake chaincode IDs...everything we could think of. It might be tight, but it should have everything you need. And it will get the three of you home safe.”

“You have that much faith in me?” Jess asked before she could stop herself. “Karé, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“Yes, Jess,” Karé stopped her. “I always have that much faith in you. Ever since Rivin V. You and Niv are gonna find Poe and you’re gonna bring him home. I believe that.”

“Karé…what’s going on? Who approved our leave? Where’s this ship from? What are you—”

“Jess,” Karé sighed, “I wish I could tell you. I do. But it’s honestly for everyone’s good that you know as little as possible, okay? And I know that’s going to drive you up the wall, but…it’s the only way to keep everyone safe.”

Jess nodded slowly. “Okay,” she whispered. “Fine.”

“I’ll tell you when I can, I promise,” Karé said.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Jess said with a forced smile.

“Good. Someone needs to call her on her shit,” Iolo said from the ramp. “Niv’s checking out the ship. I think he’s a fan. You tell her about the makeup?” he asked Karé.

“Just about to,” Karé replied.

“Makeup?”

“You can’t just show up on Arkanis looking like a Republic Pilot,” Karé explained, “even if you are a little…rougher than most.” Karé winked. Jess flipped her off, but Karé continued as if she didn’t notice. “We got you some disguises to help you…blend a little more.”

“What did you have in mind?” Jess asked.

“Iolo got his hands on some Mandalorian armor for Niv to use,” she said, indicating to a crate next to the ramp. “Don’t ask how, I didn't know and I don't want to know. But I didn’t think you’d appreciate feeling confined like that. Just means that yours requires some extra application.”

“Hence the makeup.”

“It’s not technically makeup,” Karé allowed. “It’s a temporary skin-ink. I got you a Kiffar Bounty Hunter disguise, so you’re gonna need _qukuuf_ tattoos on your face and neck. I’ll help you get them applied since they need to be perfect and they'll be hard to do on your own. Then, it’s more about attitude than anything. And you’ve got enough of that.”

“Thanks,” Jess said dryly. She sighed. “Ok, let’s get it on,” she shrugged.

“Come on,” Karé nodded, leading Jess onto the ship.

As they walked up the ramp, Jess looked around, taking it all in. “Ok, yeah, this is definitely nicer than any 5K I’ve ever seen.”

Karé grinned. “We weren’t gonna send you in something that was _actually_ gonna fall apart. Just something that looked like it might.”

Jess snorted a laugh and dropped onto the bench positioned at the table. “Let’s get this stuff on.”

Karé pulled out a bag from her jacket pocket and set it on the table. From her other pocket, she pulled out a pair of disposable gloves.

“Wait, I’m supposed to let you put something on my face that you’re wearing gloves to apply?”

“It’s just so it doesn’t get on my hands, Jess. It’s semi-permanent, not poisonous,” she rolled her eyes as she started massaging the tube and squeezed a small amount of the golden ink out onto a palette. “Ready?”

“Does it matter?” Jess said with a laugh. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “Yeah, go for it.”

Karé grinned and began carefully applying the ink to Jess’s face.

“Aren’t _qukuuf_ tattoos, like, family marks or something?” Jess asked.

“Don’t move,” Karé scolded her. “But yes, they are. Your marks are from Clan Vos.”

“Anything I need to know about them?”

“Don’t. Move,” Karé scolded again with a grin. “Clan Vos is a large clan. Historically, they were the rulers of Kiffu and Kiffex, but not anymore. The clan has a higher instance of psychometry than others. Don't worry, not all of them have it, so you won't need to fake it."

"That seems like a good skill for a Bounty Hunter to have."

"If you want to try and fake it, more power to you. Notable members include Quinlan Vos, who was a Jedi Master before the purge.”

“Will I need to know that?”

“Maybe,” Karé said, “especially if your tattoos are messed up. Now stop talking.”

Jess grinned once more before closing her eyes and schooling her expression, letting Karé finish her work.

Once Karé moved away from Jess’s face and onto her neck and collarbones, Jess smirked. “Gotta say, this is way better than my first tattoo experience.”

“That's because your first tattoo experience was when you were eight and it wasn’t your choice. I certainly hope this is better,” Karé replied distractedly, her attention still on her work. She carefully inked the marks onto Jess’s skin.

“Fair point.”

“I’m almost done, just stay still for another few minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jess quipped. Karé looked up and raised her eyebrows at Jess, but grinned and looked back to her work.

“OK, final touch,” Karé said as she put the brush down and stepped back. “Put these in.” She held out a pair of dark lenses to Jess. She took them and put them in her eyes. “Ok, done.”

Iolo approached them and let out a low whistle. “Look like real tattoos to me.”

Jess took the small mirror Karé offered her and looked at her reflection. “Wow. That's a look,” she commented, taking in her altered appearance. The black lenses removed any hint of her brown eyes and instead gave the unsettling appearance of her eyes being a black void. The golden marks seemed to change the undertones and shape of her face, making her appearance foreign, even to herself. She reached up to touch the marks before stopping herself. “Can I touch them?”

“Yeah,” Karé nodded. “Without the dissolvent, they’ll last for four weeks without showing signs of wear. No one will know the difference.”

Jess rubbed gently at the golden stripe running under her eyes and across the bridge of her nose. Two vertical stripes ran down the right side of her face before fading away at the base of her neck, one bisecting her eye. A series of small dots ran along the top of her left eyebrow. Similar markings continued on her collarbones.

“I don’t think anyone will recognize you,” Niv said, looking her over.

“The rest of your disguise is in the crate with Niv’s armor. You’ll be able to tell whose is whose,” Karé said, packing up her things.

"One last thing." Iolo pulled a small round device out of his pocket. "This is a bounty puck. Bounty Hunters use them to store information about the bounty they're chasing. They're small, portable, and common. We've loaded Poe's information into this one so you can show his image to people without raising suspicion. Hopefully, it'll help you find him." He handed the puck to Jess. "Good luck."

Jess took the puck with a sharp nod and slipped it into her pocket. 

Karé gave a weak smile. "Alright. So, I think you're ready to go. Again, thank you. And may the Force be with you." 

“We'll find him," Jess promised before turning to her wingman. “Niv, let’s go to Arkanis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're like me and want to know what the JM-5K looks like, here's what I used as a guideline. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/JumpMaster_5000/Legends?file=Jumpmaster5000-tur.jpg


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more story time. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

__________

It had been shockingly easy to get to Arkanis. Far easier than Jess had thought realistically possible. A short jump from Hosnian Prime to Byblos and then straight out the Corellian Run had gotten them to the Arkanis system. The system was devoid of life except for Arkanis itself, which stood out sharply as a grey-blue marble against the bright yellow clouds of the sulfuric gas giant, Känu III, just beyond it. So far, they had not run into any opposition of any kind. Jess hoped their luck would hold.

“So…Arkanis,” Niv said awkwardly. “Think they’re expecting us?”

Jess tried to suppress her grin, but failed. For as stressed and worried as she was, Niv had always been able to make her laugh. “I hope not,” she said. “Did we get any comms while we were at lightspeed?”

“Coming through now,” Niv said, tapping a code into the transceiver. “Got one from Karé and it looks like we got our Bounty Hunter. We’re gonna be looking for a Jas Emari—she’s a Zabrak and will meet us at a cantina in Scaparus Port. Has some code words she wants us to use so she knows it’s us. She even gave us a landing clearance code to get past the planetary defenses.”

“Are you as curious as I am to know how Commander Wexley knows a Zabrak Bounty Hunter well enough to be owed a favor?” Jess asked.

“I’m dying to know. But I doubt they’ll ever tell us.”

“I’ll find out...somehow,” Jess said, committing herself to finding out their connection.

 _“Unidentified Ship—this is Arkanis Planetary Defense. You have entered Arkanis-Controlled Space. Identify yourself.”_ Their comm transceiver crackled.

“Ready?” Niv asked.

Jess grinned and reached over to the comm. “Planetary Defense, this is JM-5K _Mirage,_ ” Jess said, playing up her Dandoran accent, “we are here to pick up a work transit order in Scaparus Port.”

 _“Your flight is not on our roster,”_ the comm officer replied crisply.

“I have a clearance code,” Jess replied. Niv showed her the transmission. “H-F-T-nine-nine-delta-one-seven-T.”

_“Standby.”_

“Force, let that code be good,” Jess whispered.

_“JM-5K Mirage, you have been cleared for landing in Scaparus Port. Sending instructions to your on-board nav system now.”_

“Received. Thank you.” Jess switched of the comm and let out a deep breath. “We’re on planet.”

“We’re on planet,” Niv agreed. “You know it’s only going to get worse from here, right?”

“Don’t remind me,” Jess chuckled. “When we get back, I’m telling Karé she owes me a day at a Gatalentan Massage and Spa. My nerves are gonna be fried after this.”

“I’ll take you if she won’t,” Niv offered.

“I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”

Niv shrugged. “You didn’t ask, I offered. You’re my friend. And it’s just money.”

“Stars, what’s your world like?” Jess asked.

Before he could answer, the nav computer pinged, drawing their attention.

“Let’s get changed. I think we’re gonna need to be ready as soon as we touch down,” Niv said. Jess nodded in agreement—the clock to find Poe was running and they didn’t have a second to lose.

\---

Niv surveyed the building in front of them. “You sure this is the place?” he asked, his voice distorted by the vocal modulator in the Mandalorian helmet on his head. Jess had to hand it to Iolo: this was a great disguise. Niv was unrecognizable in the full armor. Her own smuggler disguise was less elaborate—made up of layers of canvas and leather and topped with an old leather flight jacket. Over the jacket, she wore armor on her left arm. Beyond that, the disguise relied heavily on the dark eye lenses, severe makeup, and the temporary golden Kiffar _qukuuf_ tattoos adorning her skin. Her dark hair was wrapped in a maroon scarf and twisted into a knot at the base of her neck. Neither of them looked like NRDF Pilots.

“Yeah, this is where Karé said,” Jess confirmed, looking around. While Niv was unsure, this place was exactly what Jess had been expecting: nondescript, out of the way, a little run down, and completely unassuming. It was a place that off-worlders wouldn’t choose, but also wouldn’t draw the attention of local or galactic law enforcement. She’d been in plenty of places like this before. “Stay out here,” Jess told Niv.

“That’s not a part of the pla—”

“Trust me on this,” Jess interrupted him. “Listen, there’s a lot about my past you don’t know—stuff that almost no one knows. Stuff that will let me get in and out of here without trouble. I need you to trust that.”

Niv sighed. “You ever gonna tell me your secrets?”

“Someday,” Jess tried to smile, but knew it was flat. “I’ll be fine.”

“One hour and then I’m coming in.”

“Deal,” Jess agreed. “See you in an hour,” she winked and walked into the cantina.

Jess sat down at the bar and ordered a drink, then settled in to watch the room, waiting for her contact to appear. The cantina’s patrons were primarily human or humanoid with a few species that Jess didn’t recognize. She counted twelve humans in what appeared to be Imperial uniforms, or at least Imperial-adjacent. She was surprised—for someone to so obviously support the Empire was daring. At least, it would daring be on any other planet. Here on Arkanis, it seemed to be accepted.

Nearly forty-five minutes had passed since Jess entered the cantina. She had been propositioned by five men, two women, and three beings whose species and gender she was unfamiliar with. She was beginning to worry that Wexley’s contact had stood her up when an older Zabrak female with moonlight blue skin sat next to her.

“Bright suns, traveler,” she greeted.

“Bright suns,” Jess repeated. The Batuu greeting was common enough across the galaxy, but coming from a Zabrak, it could be part of the code Commander Wexley’s contact had sent. If this was her contact, she knew how the conversation would go. “Where are you travelling from?” she asked, sticking to her script.

“Here and there,” she replied, her accent thick. “Naboo. Kessel. Akiva. And you?”

 _Akiva:_ that was the first code word. “My ship is my home. Just here looking for a job. Thought in someplace like this, it’d be a _snap_ to find one.” Jess said her own code word.

The Zabrak considered her before carefully saying, “What kind of work are you looking for?”

“Whatever will pay the bills. I’m a pretty good pilot. Know a thing or two about racing. Stripping engines,” Jess paused, “smuggling cargo—no questions asked.”

“And you came to Arkanis?” she smirked.

“Far as I could get with the fuel I had,” Jess answered, sipping her drink. “Heard there was work here if you knew where to look. And how to keep your mouth shut.”

“I may have a proposition for you,” the Zabrak woman said. “Bounty hunting. Are you willing?”

“Long as it pays.” Jess downed her drink. “Lead the way.”

The Zabrak woman left the cantina, with Jess following closely behind. As they exited, Jess saw Niv straighten up and she immediately shook her head. Niv nodded and didn’t move towards them. She knew he would follow from a distance.

A few blocks later, the Zabrek woman spoke. “You can tell your friend in the Mandalorian armor to join us.”

“You noticed?” Jess asked.

“Hard not to. He is no Mandalorian.”

Jess motioned for Niv to join them.

“You are bad at surveillance,” the Zabrak told him once he’d caught up.

“Sorry. Not really my skill set,” Niv shrugged. “I’m better in the air.”

“I should hope so,” she hummed. “Turn here,” she indicated to a narrow alley.

“So you’re Iolo’s contact?” Jess asked.

“I do not know an Iolo.”

“Then how—”

“I was contacted by an old friend for a favor.”

“Who’s the friend?” Niv asked, wanting to verify her identity for himself.

“I am not fool enough to tell you that, at least not in public.”

The Zabrak indicated to the right at the end of the alley. Halfway down the new pathway, there was a plain and unassuming door. The Zabrek knocked a pattern on it and Jess heard an old-fashioned lock slide out of place before the door opened. “Inside.”

Jess and Niv stepped through the dark doorway and were immediately pressed against the wall by two shadowy figures and patted down, their weapons removed.

“I would apologize for this,” the Zabrak said, “but in our profession, my crew and I can never be too careful.”

“Naturally,” Jess ground out. She clenched her teeth when she felt one of the crewmembers remove the bounty puck from her pocket. She stared straight into the wall while she waited for the them to finish their search. She could hear Niv growl under his breath, receiving the same treatment.

“Just standard weapons. And this,” a male voice told the Zabrak in Basic, showing her the weapons and puck.

“Hmm,” she nodded. “Return their weapons. You two, follow me.”

The hands holding Jess and Niv against the walls released them and handed them back their various weapons, but not the bounty puck.

“For the record, I don’t like this,” Niv muttered to Jess as they followed the Zabrak woman.

“Noted,” she replied softly.

The hallway ended in a shabby room, containing only a table with four chairs. Jess finally got a look at the other two Bounty Hunters: a Rodian and an older male human.

“Sit,” the Zabrak woman invited them, pulling out a chair for herself.

Niv and Jess glanced at each other before they carefully sat down. The two crewmembers were joined by a third, a Kyuzo. The three hunters stationed themselves along the walls, one behind the Zabrak and two behind them.

“So…your contact… _Iolo_ , you said? He apparently is a friend of Norra Wexley and her son, Temmin,” the Zabrak woman started, “and they got you to me.”

“I take it you are Jas Emari?” Jess looked the older Zabrak woman over. Though still fairly young by Zabrak standards, she was older than most bounty hunters. _So she’s good,_ Jess assessed. “And this is your crew?”

“Who else?” she laughed. “And you are?”

“Jessika. This is Niv.”

“Jessika and Niv,” Jas narrowed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, sizing them up. “Tell me: what is so important about you two that Norra Wexley would ask me for a favor on your behalf? And why do you have this?” She asked, tossing the puck onto the table. “Are you going to try bounty hunting?” Jas laughed.

“We’re a couple of no ones,” Jess replied. “Who we’re after…that’s who Wexley thought was worth asking you for a favor for. He’s who’s on the puck.”

“Norra is hunting?”

“No,” Jess replied, “just needed to disguise it if the wrong person found it.” She reached forward and activated the puck. “This is Poe Dameron. He’s a member of the NRDF and disappeared here on Arkanis seven standard days ago. Wexley thought you might be able to help us get on the right track.”

Jas leaned forward and considered the holoimage. “I have never seen this man. He’s handsome, though. He’d be worth a good number of credits on the market.” Jess could feel how Jas watched her when she clenched her jaw at the comment. “Though I do not work with slavers, if that is a concern. You seem to have a particular displeasure at the idea that he may be in the trade. Personal experience?” the Zabrak asked, her eyes not leaving Jess’s. Jess felt like her heart had frozen in her chest.

“We don’t think he was taken by slavers,” Niv said. “We have reason to believe it was the First Order.”

“I don’t do work for them either,” Jas said sharply.

“We know,” Jess said, regaining her composure. “But we also know they have a large presence here. And we know you’ve been on planet. We’re hoping you can give us a direction.”

Jas reached in her pocket and pulled out her own bounty puck. “If it’s the First Order behind your pilot’s disappearance, this is the man you’ll need to find: Armitage Hux. He’s young , but ambitious. A leader for the First Order— a general, as I understand it. But one who lacks discipline. He does not think before he acts, nor does he consider the consequences. Talks too much. Too self-important. But he is a vicious and spiteful man. If anyone from the First Order has your man, it’s Hux.”

“Related to Brendol Hux?” Niv asked. Jess turned sharply to look at Niv at the mention of the name. Brendol Hux was an Imperial War Criminal that the New Republic had never managed to capture. Not much was known of the man, but what they did know from the Academy was that he had committed unspeakable crimes—including compelling cadets to kill one another to be a part of a secret organization of some kind.

“His illegitimate son, or so I’m told.”

“Seems that he’s following in his father’s footsteps. Is Brendol also First Order?”

“Brendol Hux is dead. The circumstances were…suspicious. The rumors are that Armitage is a bastard—the product of Brendol’s affair with a kitchen woman. Because of that, the elder Hux was abusive to his son and said he was frail and weak-willed. It is said that his son could never measure up in his eyes. They say that his son killed him, or was at the least involved, but that may be just idle gossip. It is true, however, that Armitage rose in rank quickly after his father’s passing. The remaining Imperials propped him up.” 

“So there _are_ Imperial sympathizers here?”

Jas barked a harsh laugh. “That is a joke. Sympathizers? No. They are Imperials, simple as that. Ones the New Republic didn’t deem dangerous enough to track down or were unable to find. At least the elder ones are. The younger—they are First Order. Though they are two sides of the same credit. There is no sympathizing about it. And the Hux men are the front among them.”

“What do they want with Poe?”

“My guess? He got too close,” Jas shrugged.

“Too close to what?”

“To whatever they’re doing here on Arkanis. Like I said, I do not do work for them,” Jas shrugged.

“Where do we start to look?” Jess asked.

Jas said something in her own language before one of her crew dropped another puck on the table. Jas activated it and brought up a map. “Start here,” she said, indicating to an industrial manufacturing center on the far end of town. “They have set up in the old Arkanis Academy—a former Imperial Academy that Hux was commandant of at the time of the fall of the Empire. Their contracts say that they’re manufacturing droid components.” She swiped at the image and it dissolved, only to reform as a holoimage of Stormtroopers with a crate of blasters. Another swipe revealed what Jess knew were TIE fighter components and Star Destroyer weaponry. “That does not look like droid components to me.”

“And Hux is behind it all?”

“Phssh. No. Armitage may think he is of that level of importance, but he is a puppet. No, there is a greater power behind him.”

“And who is that?”

“That I do not know,” Jas replied. “And even if I did, that is beyond the scope of this favor. You are here for the pilot Poe Dameron,” she said tapping he puck, “and this is where you start to look for him.”

“We know Dameron is here. We were told you could get us where we need to be. That was the favor,” Niv said, his voice firm. Jess looked at him, impressed. He was a far better negotiator than she was.

Jas grinned, her sharp teeth glinting. “I like you, pilot,” she laughed. “You are like Norra Wexley. I know someone who can get you in. An Ugnaught named Gruttel. I’ll set up a meeting between you tonight at Jasko’s. 2200. Do not be late. You tell him that Jas sent you and he should be helpful enough. I warn you, though, he does not take kindly to strangers. And especially not humans.”

“We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you,” Jess said, taking the pucks from the table and sliding them into her pocket.

“Tell Norra that I have fulfilled my favor.” Jas stood, ready to leave the meeting.

“We will,” Jess promised and stood as well.

Jas stared down at the two younger humans before sighing and putting her hand on Jess’s shoulder. “Look for your friend, but prepare for disappointment. This is a dangerous place to be a New Republican.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a lot of world building right now, but stick with me! I'm super proud of the upcoming chapters. 
> 
> Also--if you're not familiar, Jas Emari and her gang are from the Aftermath Trilogy which provides awesome backstory for Snap Wexley, Norra Wexley, and Wedge Antilles. Highly encouraged.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more story time. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

_____________

Niv entered Jasko’s, looking for Jess. They had split up after their meeting with Jas Emari: Niv to go send a ping to Karé and to secure the ship while Jess scouted out Jasko’s and the surrounding area. 

When he didn’t see her, Niv chose a booth in the farthest corner of the shop. He nodded to the human behind the bar as he passed and sat down near something labeled as an unmonitored comm booth—available for an exorbitant price. A relic, he was told, from the Imperial days when this was the only safe place on the planet to place an unmonitored call.

Niv passed the time—surveying the room, looking for Jess.

Someone slid into his booth. “Hey.”

“Where did you come from?” Niv asked, startling forward at Jess’s sudden appearance.

“I’ve been here a while.”

“I didn’t see you.”

Jess gave a half-smile and raised her eyebrows. “I blend.”

“You blend?”

Jess shrugged. “Not my first time being somewhere like this. After a while, you learn how to be invisible.”

Niv gave a noncommittal ‘hmm’ to Jess’s vague answer. Jess grinned and caught the eye of the bartender, motioning for two drinks. “Is this the ‘stuff’ you meant about getting in and out without trouble?"

“Still on that?”

“Always.”

Jess bit her lip and sighed. “Not the place, man.”

“Come on,” Niv pushed. “Throw me a bone. A hint. Anything.”

She groaned. “Fine. Yes. Knowing how to work a room like this is part of that ‘stuff’: how to talk to people and get information without seeming suspicious, how to blend in with the clientele, how to be so completely unremarkable that they don’t remember you. The most important part, though, is knowing how to _disappear_ in a room like this."

“What other skills do you have?”

“Uh-uh. I gave you one. You’ll get more later. If you’re nice.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

Jess grinned at him and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the arrival of a bartender with their drinks. The bartender looked suspiciously at them before returning to the bar.

“How do you expect me to drink that?” Niv nodded to the cup in front of him.

“Ooooh, so you’ve decided that your character is one of _those_ Mandalorians,” Jess grinned, “interesting choice.” 

“Felt like maybe I shouldn’t remove my helmet here. Is it just me or does everything on this planet feel slightly illegal?” Niv asked, settling back again and pointedly ignoring the drink in front of him.

Jess’s lips quirked. “Kinda feels like home to me,” she said.

“Sketchy shops are home?” Jess could imagine the quirk of Niv’s perfectly manicured eyebrow under his helmet.

“No,” she laughed darkly. “But, uh…a lot of Dandoran feels slightly illegal.”

“Your life sounds so weird.”

“You have no idea,” Jess said lowly. She took a drink of her ale and leaned back in her seat, surveying the room. 

“Think he’ll show?” Niv asked.

“Jas seemed to think so,” Jess replied distractedly.

“Hey, where’s your head?”

“Today’s day 8,” Jess said.

Niv sighed. They both knew NRDF Standard Procedures: three missed check-ins and you were classified as Missing in Action and after seven days without contact, any search would be called off. “He’s alive. I believe that,” he said firmly. “We’ll find him. And bring him home.” 

Jess gave a small smile to her friend. “Thank you for coming with me. For _doing_ this with me.”

Niv tilted his head. “Of course,” he said, the modulator in his helmet not disguising his incredulity. “Where else would I be?”

“Not on a planet that feels slightly illegal.”

Niv made a sound and Jess knew he was smirking under his helmet.

“I am here at the request of Jas Emari,” a voice interrupted them. Jess turned to see the white hair, upturned nose, and thick, layered jowls of an Ugnaught, his shoulders the same level as the table.

“Are you Gruttel?” Niv asked.

“I am. And you are the pilots, no? The ones Jas told me to find.”

“Yes,” Jess nodded. “Thank you for meeting us.”

“Why am I here?” he said shortly.

“Have you seen this man?” Jess asked, activating the puck.

The Ugnaught considered the holoimage for a moment. Jess reached in her pocket and put a few credits on the table. He took them and pocketed them before responding. “Yes.”

“Yes? When? Where?”

“8 days ago. He was caught in the old Academy.”

“What happened to him?”

“General Hux ordered the Stormtroopers to put him on the carrier and take him to the _Revenant._ ”

“What is the _Revenant_?” Niv asked.

The Ugnaut narrowed his eyes. “Why do you care?”

“That man is of high value to the New Republic. We want to return him for the reward. We’ll pay you a portion of it,” Niv offered. Jess glanced at Niv. There was no reward for Poe—unless Niv planned on paying the Ugnaught himself.

“I’m not interested,” the Ugnaught said.

“You haven’t even heard what we need from you,” Jess argued.

“I don’t care.”

“Jas said you could help us.”

“I told Jas I would meet you. Not that I would help you.”

“Your people were enslaved by the Empire. How can you support the First Order?” Jess growled.

“I do not support them by choice!” Gruttel spat.

Jess backtracked. “Are you a slave?”

“No,” Gruttel said. “Not in such a word. I am held by my own conscience and foolishness.”

“What do you mean?” Niv leaned forward.

The Ugnaught glared at them before speaking. “After the fall of the Empire, it was not a good time to be a non-human on a former Empire stronghold. Before…we were not respected, but we had work. We did the jobs no human wanted and were paid fairly for it. But after the war, there was no more work for us on Arkanis. We were starving. _Dying._ In my shame, I went to Colonel Julyan, one of the last remaining Imperial Officers on planet. I begged him for money to feed my family. And he gave it to me. He saved my family. And he did not ask that I repay the money—but that I would repay a favor when he asked. I was young and desperate, so I agreed. I didn’t hear from him for years.”

“And then he called and gave his terms,” Niv said softly.

Gruttel nodded. “Five years ago, he sent a message that he was calling in the favor owed. He wanted me to oversee a factory like I did back in the days of the Empire. The factory I oversaw…we made parts for ships. We did not know that they were used for Star Destroyers at the time. But Colonel Julyan…he knew. He charged me with building parts for new ships. New Star Destroyers. I refused. I told him I would pay him back every credit I owed him with interest, but he would not accept. When I went home that night, my family was gone,” Gruttel choked out. “I went back to Julyan and he told me that the First Order was holding my family. That they have been taken off planet and the First Order will not tell me where they are until I have repaid my debt. I have not seen them since.”

“How many times have they changed what you owe?” Jess asked.

“Three.” The Ugnaught’s head drooped.

“How can we help you?” Jess asked.

“Why would you help me?” Gruttel asked, suspicious.

“We have something in common—the First Order has someone we care about.”

“You said he was a bounty.”

“I lied,” Jess shrugged.

“So why help me?”

“You have what we need. We’ll help you get what you need, and we trade. Seems fair.”

The Ugnaught considered for a moment before offering his hand. “You give me the location they’re keeping my family, I’ll give you the clearance code you need to get your friend,” Gruttel told them. “I promise.”

“You’ll answer all our questions?” Niv asked. Gruttel nodded.

“We have a deal,” Jess agreed, shaking his hand. “You said Dameron was taken to the _Reverent_. What is that?”

“It is the newest Star Destroyer in the First Order’s fleet. It was just completed and will receive its troops within the week.”

“Well, it’s a fitting name, with the Empire basically being back from the dead and all,” Niv muttered.

“Where is it?” Jess asked, ignoring her friend.

“It is hidden on the far side of Känu III. The sulfur gas disrupts sensors.”

“How can we get there?”

“You can fly your ship. The code I will give you will let you land. The ship is minimally staffed right now. It will not be hard to get on board with a good code. No one will be checking that closely.”

“Minimally staffed?”

“Essential functions only. It’s not flying anywhere, so they don’t need a full staff right now. Any system deemed non-essential has been turned off or is unmonitored until the new troops arrive. I can give you layouts, maps, guard rotation schedules, all of it.”

Jess and Niv looked at each other. “This might work,” Niv said.

“It’s gotta work,” Jess breathed. “If you have access to all of this, why can’t you get your family’s location?”

“I have tried. That information is bio-coded to Human DNA. It will not open for any other species.”

“First Order xenophobic bullshit,” Niv muttered. “Typical.”

Jess nodded in agreement. “Ok. Ok,” she smiled. “I think we can make that work. So where is the information about your family kept?”

“In the former Commandant’s office at the old Academy.”

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned the Academy. Tell me more.”

“The Arkanis Academy was an Officer Training Academy for the Empire. After the fall, the school sat empty for many years. But then things started happening there. The First Order took it over—quietly, at first, but now most beings suspect it, even if they don’t outright know.” 

“A former Empire Academy. Shit,” Niv whistled.

“Can you get us in?” 

Jess asked.

Gruttel grinned conspiratorially. “Yes.”

\---

They worked late into the night crafting a plan with Gruttel: selecting an infiltration time, determining an entry point, identifying camera locations, studying maps, figuring out their best exit strategy, and more. Jess wanted to go as soon as possible, but Gruttel and Niv convinced her to wait a few more hours. In the end, they’d settled on the next night during the handoff from second to third shift. 

The next day was spent in preparation mode: namely replenishing supplies and doing reconnaissance on the old Arkanis Academy. By the time the mid-afternoon downpour began, they had retreated to their ship to rest and prepare for that evening’s mission and to finalize their entry/exit plan with the new intel from their scouting trip.

“You do realize exactly how much of this plan relies on us being really good at our jobs, right?” Niv shouted through the refresher door. The sun had gone down and now they were waiting for the window of opportunity: during the change-over from second to third shift later that night. 

“Well then, it’s a good thing we’re really good at our jobs,” Jess said as she stepped out into the common space, shaking out her hair. “I can’t wait to get back to a real shower,” she sighed, “sonics just don’t make your hair feel clean.”

“I bet it feels cleaner than mine did after being in that Mando helmet.” Niv had removed the Mandalorian armor when they had determined that it was no longer useful as a disguise and was now wearing basic tactical clothing in greens and blacks.

Jess grinned and sat down on the bench across from him, pulling on her jacket. She took the ration bar Niv offered. "Thanks."

“Still wearing the Kiffar disguise?” he asked, taking a bite of his own ration bar. 

She shrugged. “Still have the tattoo marks. Might as well keep the character up. Plus, this jacket is comfortable. I might keep it even afterward.” She ripped the packaging open and took a bite. “Have what you need?” she asked with a nod to his bag.

Niv lifted his pack. “All here. You?”

“I would prefer to be going in with more than two blasters and a vibroblade, but…” she vaguely waved at her gear on the table, “this’ll have to do for tonight.”

“I’ve got a blaster, too. And don’t you also have an electrostatic disruptor?”

“Short-range.”

“Should be enough. If we believe what Gruttel told us, it’s unlikely we’ll run into too much trouble. They have a low number of troops on-site, an outdated security system, and a serious level of arrogance.”

“I’m more concerned about new security systems or cameras that aren’t on the old schematics than running into Trooper trouble. And a short-range disruptor won’t do shit against them.”

“The cameras or the troopers? Cause a blaster will take care of both,” Niv said with a wink. Jess flipped him off. “Can’t do anything about either.”

“Nope—shoot out the cameras I see and hope I don’t miss any,” she sighed and sat forward. “Let’s walk the plan again.”

“According to what Gruttel said, the easiest way for us to enter the school grounds will be through the wooded area to the east. There is an energy field, but your disruptor should be enough to weaken it for about three seconds—long enough for us to get through, but short enough to be considered a power fluctuation that no one will come to check out.”

“Right. Then we get into the building via the Service Entrance,” Jess said as she began working her hair into a braid. “One camera, easy enough to take out from above before being seen. No other cameras on the floor except for in the ship service bay.”

“Can we appreciate how cocky the First Order is? Only one camera at the Service Entrance and none on the lowest level aside from the garage?” Niv smirked.

“ _Service bay._ Show some respect to the ships. And none that we _know_ of.”

“Right. So once we’re in, we go up the emergency stairs to the fifteenth floor. Cameras are swivel-mounted, so we move with the cameras, hitting the blind spots. Once there, we take out the two cameras on the floor and go to the North-west corner office. Hopefully, no one is in there. I log into the computer, get the information, and then we get out.”

“While you work on the computer, I keep surveillance on the hallway. When you’re done, we go back down the stairs and out onto grounds again, back through the woods, and one more time through the energy field,” Jess finished.

“Sounds so simple,” Niv joked.

“Too simple. Something’s going to go catastrophically wrong.”

“Of course it will. Again, relying heavily on us being good at what we do.” Niv sighed. "Think the rain will clear up?"

"It's supposed to. But...worst case, we get it done soaking wet."

"I don't like that idea." Niv winced. "Wet boots are the worst."

Jess smirked. "Aww, poor baby." 

"Shut up," Niv said and threw the ration bar wrapper at her. 

Jess dodged it easily and grinned. "What time is it?”

Niv checked his chrono. “2030. Shift change is at 2200, and we want to be in the school by 2130, so we should move.”

Jess nodded and stood, holstered her blasters, and picked up her vibroblade. She flipped it in her hand before she slid it into its sheath. “Ready when you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is not how I thought this chapter would go. I thought we'd be to the adventure by now, but I realized that I needed a bit more world-building to get there, and then this part got too long to have on the front end of what comes next. PLUS, this chapter fought me the entire way. 
> 
> BUT the next chapter should be out in the next day or so and that's where the adventure picks up. Promise! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more story time. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

__________

The ground was soggy under their boots as Niv and Jess crept through the dunatrees and hallahalla bushes, looking for the energy field that marked the boundary of the old Arkanis Academy. The earlier rain had died down, leaving behind a hazy fog. Dark clouds hung heavy in the sky, threatening another downpour.

“There,” Niv said suddenly and pointed through the fog at a metal post. A faint buzzing emanated from it. “That’s an energy field transponder.”

Jess picked up a handful of the fallen duna seeds and started gently tossing them forward to determine where the field ran. When they hit the energy field, they let out a small flash of light and a quiet crack. “We have three seconds from the time I use the disruptor to when that thing will sever a limb,” she said, indicating to the space where the invisible barrier was in front of them.

“Comforting,” Niv muttered.

They crept closer to the invisible energy field until they could feel the charge from the field standing the hair on their arms on end.

“Ready to run?” Jess asked.

Niv nodded. “Let’s do this.”

“Ready. And…” Jess took a deep breath, “go.”

She and Niv sprinted forward towards the barrier, praying that the disruptor would do what it was supposed to and let them through.

They crossed the invisible line of the energy field and ran another few meters before stopping and looking back.

“Have all your parts?” Jess asked.

Niv raised both hands and wiggled his fingers. “All accounted for. You?”

Jess nodded and bent down to pick up another duna seed. She tossed it back at the energy field. A soft crackle and a small burst of light came from where it connected.

Jess gave a lopsided grin. “It worked.”

Niv let out a chuckle. “Step one complete. Now we just gotta do the rest.”

“Well then…what are we waiting for?” Jess said and stepped forward to lead the way into the woods. “Let’s go.”

“At least the rain cleared up,” Niv said as he followed Jess’s lead.

“Careful, you’ll jinx it,” Jess teased.

“You believe in that stuff?”

“I think the Universe has a sense of humor, yes.”

“Then it’s a twisted sense of humor.”

Jess laughed and continued through the trees and undergrowth.

They had barely lost site of the energy field transponder when Jess felt a soft click under her foot and heard a whirring from her right.

“Get down!” Jess shouted. Niv dropped as she fired her blaster, taking out a hovering disk just behind him. She walked over to inspect the device with her flashlight. “You ok?”

“Fine. What was that?” Niv asked from the ground.

“Spinner mine,” Jess said, kicking the device. “With live ammo,” she added darkly.

Niv got back on his feet and dusted himself off. “What the hell is a spinner with live ammo doing here? Wasn’t this a school?”

“Military academy,” Jess corrected.

“Point stands.”

“I dunno,” Jess shrugged. “Wait,” she said, eyes wide. “We know that Hux committed war crimes against his students, right? Had them kill each other to get into his private club or whatever? I bet he made this whole forest into a training ground.”

“Shit.”

“That’s a good word for it. Could have booby traps, snares, trip wires, mines, sensor pads, automatic weapons, stealth droids…any of it. All with live ammo.”

“Gruttel didn’t tell us about this.”

“Doubt he knew,” Jess said and pocketed her flashlight. “The Academy has been closed for something like twenty-five years. Who would have guessed that the forest was still a live simulation?”

“And if anyone tried to break in…”

“They didn’t make it out to tell anyone.”

“No one noticed that people went missing around here?”

“It probably worked in the New Order’s favor: made the Academy sinister or mysterious. Haunted, even,” Jess said. “Trust me, when someone goes missing somewhere like this, no one talks about it. No matter the circumstances.” 

“See—whole planet feels illegal.”

Jess rolled her eyes, but her lips quirked. “It’s gonna be a challenge to get through in this weather. I can barely see 10 meters ahead of us.”

“Aww, come on. Twenty-five-year-old live training course in the elements? It’s gonna be like being in the Rebel Alliance,” Niv grinned. “This’ll be fun.”

Jess smirked. “You think so, do you?”

“We kicked ass on the Academy course. Who says we can’t here?”

Jess’s smirk grew into a grin. “Got my six?”

Niv pulled his blaster from its holster. “Always.”

Slowly, the two moved through the forest, blasters at the ready.

“Tripwire,” Niv whispered, pointing down. Jess nodded and stepped over, her eyes roaming for what it led to.

“Primitive, but effective,” she said and pointed up. Niv looked up to see the cargo net filled with rocks.

“Learned from Endor. Doesn’t have to be high tech to be deadly.”

Jess continued forward, blaster raised. A disturbance in the leaves drew her attention. “Net trap?” she asked.

Niv kicked a rock forward, releasing the trap. “Good eye.”

A rustling to their right drew their attention.

Jess and Niv scanned the woods, looking for the source of the sound.

“Get down,” Niv said as he ducked and pulled Jess with him. “See anything?”

Jess looked around. “There, on the tree,” she hissed and pointed at something crawling up the tree toward the hanging net trap. “Are those modified buzzdroids?”

Niv fired five times, destroying the droids. “Not anymore.”

“What kind of bullshit trap is that? You get trapped by a net and then attacked by buzzdroids? That’s low.”

“You do remember who we’re talking about here, right?” Niv asked incredulously. 

“Of course. But seriously, buzzdroids? Those things are a blast from the past.”

“Clone War-era tech,” Niv shrugged. “Dated. Easy. Where’s the challenge?”

“Maybe for you _now,_ ” Jess scoffed and continued forward. Niv grinned and followed behind her.

They continued through the woods, both on high alert for any potential threat.

A soft sound drew Jess’s attention. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Listen.” They both stopped and stood perfectly still, looking in the direction of the sound. The soft wrestling continued.

“Did you see that?” Niv whispered.

“No.”

The sound stopped two seconds later.

 _Predator Droid,_ Niv mouthed and pointed to the left.

“Kriff,” Jess whispered.

“Don’t respond. Its adaptive programming means it’ll learn from any offensive measures we take, so we need to wait until it draws itself out. Keep it dumb,” Niv’s voice was so quiet that Jess could barely hear it. “Let’s keep moving,” he said loudly.

As they began to walk again, the soft sound of the Predator Droid to their left resumed. Soon, another sound met their ears: water on leaves.

“Great. And now it’s raining again,” Niv grumbled.

“Told you that you’d jinxed it,” Jess shot back. “Besides, it’s just sprinkling right now. That’s minor compared to...” she vaguely waved to the left and the Predator Droid. The rain didn’t matter to Jess—all of her senses were keyed into paying attention for the droid stalking them from somewhere in the trees.

They had made another forty meters of progress when Niv’s foot disappeared, followed by the rest of him.

“Kriff!” Niv swore, groping for something to gain purchase on, his hands finally grasping the edge of the hole he had stepped into.

“Niv!” Jess lunged for her friend and grabbed his hand. Together, they managed to get him out of the hole and to safety.

“Shit,” Niv gasped. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Jess said with a relieved laugh. She looked down in the pit—it was filled with sharp metal spikes and a flickering laser grid below them. “You’re lucky the sides of this are deteriorating and you slid rather than dropped. That would have hurt, even if that grid is so old the power is failing.”

“Doesn’t take tech to kill.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Jess agreed. 

They stood and continued through the woods. On a map, the wooded area was shown to be approximately 500 meters thick from the school boundary to the open grounds, but the woods were forcing them to take a longer path.

“Do you think that we keep getting forced north because that’s the design of the training course or because of random overgrowth?” Jess asked, jumping down from a log.

“By design, for sure,” Niv said. “Random growth wouldn’t keep leading us to more challenges.” He slowed to a stop. The trees had been thinned out in front of them, but they weren’t to the grounds yet: on the far side of the clearing, the line of dunatrees was still thick. “This space doesn’t make sense,” Niv said, looking around the clearing. “Why aren’t there any mature trees? They’re all fairly new growth.” He was about to take a step forward when Jess grabbed his arm.

“That’s cause this is a minefield,” she said, pointing to some scarring on one of the nearby trees and the deep divots and craters in the ground of the clearing. “Who knows what kind of nasty things Commandant Hux put out there. Watch your step.”

Niv surveyed the clearing again with the new data in mind. “Ok, so we can assume the divot-crater things are from old explosions, yeah? We follow the divots and bring some rocks to toss ahead of us to clear the path. If we do that, we should make it across just fine, right?”

“That’s what I’d do,” Jess smirked. “Thanks for volunteering to lead.”

“I didn’t—”

“Your plan, you lead.”

“You’re the worst.” Niv shook his head at his friend, but bent down and loaded a dozen rocks the size of his fist into his bag. “Ready?”

“After you,” Jess gestured to the clearing.

Niv led the way across the field, walking in the craters as much as possible. When it wasn’t possible, he would take a rock and roll it between the craters. Each time, both pilots would duck low in the crater and hold their breath, waiting for an explosion. And each time, the explosion didn’t happen.

Neither spoke as they moved across the field, their entire beings focused on taking the next step. They were three craters from safety when the rolled stone triggered a mine. A disk shot up out of the dirt and into the air and began firing in all directions as it spun around.

“Another spinner,” Niv muttered and shot, bringing the disk down.

They moved to the next crater, leaving the spinner droid scrap behind. The next two stone rolls turned up nothing and brought Jess and Niv safely out of the field and to the line of dunatrees and hallahalla bushes.

“That was stressful,” Jess breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’re telling me,” Niv said as he pulled the remaining stones from his bag. One of the stones rolled down the embankment and dropped back onto the field, activating a mine.

The hallahalla bushes protected them from most of the blast, but both Jess and Niv were thrown to the ground, their ears ringing. They both immediately covered their heads as dirt and bits of stone rained down on them. Once the dirt stopped falling, they sat up and looked at each other.

“Damn. Think that explosion drew any attention?” Niv asked as he stood.

“Hope not,” Jess breathed, still on the ground. “Hopefully if anyone noticed, they assumed some animal or falling stick triggered it.” Movement in the clearing drew Jess’s attention. She stayed low and crawled into a small gap by the hallahalla bushes’ trunk to get a better look at the field.

“What are you doing?” Niv asked, squatting down to see where Jess had gone.

“Come here,” Jess whispered, “You need to see this.”

“What?”

“Look!” she said, pointing back to the clearing.

“What are you looking at?” Niv crawled forward to join her. “Oh, that.”

Through the smoke, they saw the large, dark gray Predator Droid standing on the far edge of the clearing. It was nearly eight feet tall and seemed to have more in common with a Rancor than the B3 Battle Droid it was supposedly based on. It swiveled its head back and forth, surveying the clearing. A red laser shone from its eyes, mapping the ground. The scan complete, the droid took assured and silent steps, neatly avoiding every land mine until it had cleared the field. If they hadn’t seen it, they would have no idea it had crossed the field. 

“That’s terrifying,” Niv breathed.

As she watched, Jess’s memory recalled one of Commander Wexley’s lectures on Enemy Combatants:

‘ _Predator Droids are some of the most dangerous enemy droids out there. They are silent, massive, stealth creations with the strength to match. They are relentless: they will follow their prey for as long as necessary to complete their mission. They never get tired, they can’t be bought off. And they are smart: they learn as you fight them. Did I mention they’re also armed to the teeth? If one is on your tail, good luck.’_

“We gotta go,” Jess said, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the bushes and then onward at a run.

They hadn’t gone twenty steps when something dropped from the trees, blasters firing. Jess instinctively raised her blaster and fired four shots into whatever _it_ was.

“Any chance that was the Predator?” Niv asked.

Jess kicked the dead droid over. “Unfortunately, no. Too small. This one’s just a stealth droid. It’s an older model—likely a precursor to the Predator. More into the ‘sneak attack’ than the ‘learned attack’.” She opened a hatch on the back of the droid’s head and removed a chip. She dropped the chip on a rock and crushed it under her boot.

“What was that?”

“Autonomic Repair Mode protocol chip. We already have one shadow, we don’t need this thing also following us around.”

“How do you—”

“I’ve messed around with battle droid circuits before.”

“When?”

“When I was younger.”

“So what, one of your parent’s hobbies was Clone-Era droids?”

A look Niv didn’t know how to interpret flashed across Jess’s face, but before he could ask, she shrugged, her face neutral again. “Something like that. Let’s keep moving. Time’s gonna be tight.”

A few minutes passed without incident before a clicking sound above them drew Jess’s attention. She looked up and two seconds later, laser bolts fired down on her from up in the trees. 

“Jess, get down,” Niv hissed, pulling her down with him behind a fallen log. The bolts charred the trees around them. Jess kept her gaze on the tree branch.

“Was that another stealth droid?” Niv wondered.

“No,” Jess shook her head. “It’s an Automatic Targeting Weapon. The Empire usually set them up in pairs to create a kill box. Right now, I only see one of them in that tree,” she indicated with her blaster, “and I’m looking for the other.”

“ATWs? Damn. Must have been triggered by a sensor pad,” Niv said, looking for any sign of the sensor pad. “I didn’t even feel it.”

“Me either. These suckers are usually programmed that if one is destroyed, the other puts up an energy shield so it can’t be taken out. We’ll have to take them out at the same time. Sight that one?” Jess indicated to the trees behind her.

“Got it,” Niv said, lining up his shot. “Did you find its partner?”

“Almost…there you are,” Jess whispered to the second ATW, now in her sights. “You ready?”

“Yep.”

“Take it out on my signal.”

“Copy.”

“Fire.” The two fired in sync with each other and the two ATWs fell from the trees, destroyed. Niv stood from their location and went to check on the fallen weapons.

Jess leaned back against the log and took a deep breath. This was taking valuable time—time they didn’t necessarily have. They had given themselves a cushion, but that was disappearing quickly. A movement in the shadows caught her attention. Jess brought herself to a crouch and raised her blaster as she looked for the source of the movement. From the dark of the woods, she saw two glowing red eyes just before something large and dark barreled towards her. Jess fired her blaster at it, but it was too fast. It knocked her to the ground as it continued towards Niv. Jess rolled to get a better look at what ran into her and felt a spike of fear.

“Predator Droid!” Jess yelled to Niv as she scrambled to her feet.

Niv whipped around with his blaster raised. He fired three shots before diving out of the way of the charging droid. The droid turned, tilted its head at a calculating angle, and advanced on Niv before the pilot had managed to get back on his feet.

Jess fired again. The droid lifted a hand and activated a shield, the bolts burning out uselessly. The Predator’s focus, though, remained on Niv. “Come on, you bucket of bolts,” Jess gritted through her teeth, “don’t look at him. Look at me. Over here.” She aimed and fired directly at one of the red eyes. It was a lucky shot that hit its mark. The eye flickered before it went dark.

The droid turned and faced the pilot. Realization dawned on Jess—yes, she had successfully distracted the droid from Niv, but now it had her in its sights. “Right…didn't think that one all the way through, did I?” she muttered to herself as she backed up, scrambling over the fallen logs and foliage on the ground. The droid was less than three meters away when Jess raised her blaster again to fire. The droid took two long strides, grabbed her wrist, and held it in a firm grip. Jess tossed the blaster from her right hand to her left and brought it up to fire on the droid. The Predator droid caught that wrist, too, and squeezed. Jess released her hold on the blaster with a cry of pain.

Jess felt the panic rise in her blood: she was pinned down like an insect in a collection. The droid scanned her with its good eye before headbutting her. Stars exploded behind Jess’s eyes. The droid threw her to the ground. “Kriff,” she gasped, bringing her hand up to her forehead. She looked up, expecting to see the droid lining up for the kill, but it wasn’t there. She looked around and saw it was again approaching Niv. She struggled onto her knees, grabbed her blaster, and fired again at the back of the droid. Her head was still spinning and the shots were glancing at best. This time, it paid her no attention.

Jess watched in horror as the droid bared down on Niv. Niv fired on the droid, aiming for the other eye. The droid had learned, though, and crowded Niv’s space to where he couldn’t get an angle on the ocular input. He tried to sidestep the droid, but it had learned the motion and grabbed him before he was out of reach. The droid slammed Niv to the ground and pinned him down. It raised its fist for the final blow.

Jess grabbed a fallen branch and surged forward. She swung the branch as hard as she could at the droid’s head. The impact jarred her arms, but dislodged the droid from on top of Niv. The droid raised its hand and fired a blaster bolt at Jess. She dove out of the way to avoid it. When she rolled back to her feet, it was gone.

“Where did it go?” Jess demanded.

“I didn’t see,” Niv gasped, quickly getting back on his feet. “I’ve never seen anything move like that.”

“Me either.”

They both backed up until their backs were against the same tree. The woods were silent around them. 

“I don’t think it’s gone,” Jess said quietly.

“Definitely not.”

A soft crack from above them was the only warning they got before the Predator Droid dropped from the tree branches and directly in front of them. It shoved Jess away and again turned its attention on Niv.

Jess tucked and rolled, continuing the motion into a low crouch. “Why are you so focused on him?” Jess whispered. Commander Wexley’s words again floated into her mind:

_‘If confronted with multiple enemies, the Predator Droid will pick whoever it perceives as the biggest threat and go after them, ignoring the others.’_

Jess winced. “Damnit,” she muttered as she realized what was happening. “Niv! It thinks you’re the bigger risk!” she shouted.

“Clearly, it hasn’t met you,” Niv yelled back as he ducked behind another dunatree. The droid fired it’s attached blaster, forcing Niv to dodge to new cover. Niv fired again, but the droid had analyzed his shooting style and now easily sidestepped his blaster bolts.

“And we’re gonna use that fact to our advantage.”

“You have a plan?” Niv called as he juked behind a tree, trying to escape the droid.

“Working on one, yeah,” Jess replied, her eyes scanning the branches above them. The Predator Droid’s attack had inspired her. She thought back, trying to remember as much as she could of Wexley’s lecture:

_‘Predator Droids do have weaknesses, though. Two, to be precise. One programming and one mechanical. The programming weakness is that if confronted with multiple enemies, the Predator Droid will pick whoever it perceives as the biggest threat and go after them, ignoring the others. Meaning, if you are gonna face off with a Predator Droid, have a buddy or two with you and have them help you take it out.’_

Jess had already worked that part out. Niv would have to distract the droid while she attacked.

_‘The mechanical one is a fault in their manufacturing. Their neck joint is particularly weak. If you can get close enough to their head, you will—with enough torque—be able to separate the head from the body, severing the processing center from the power source and the rest of the machine.’_

“So do you have a plan or not?” Niv shouted as he ducked under the swipe of a vibroblade—another of the Predator Droid’s built-in weapons. “This thing is like a multi-tool of ways to kill you.”

“Yeah, I got one. It’s…absolutely crazy, but I think it’ll work. Just…hold it off for a second more. Then get it to me once I’m in position.”

“Sure, hold it off. Easy,” Niv retorted. “And your position? How will I know when that is?”

“Oh, you’ll know.” Jess surveyed the trees, looking for one she could climb. She remembered Wexley’s reply to her question during the lecture:

_‘So you’re saying if you can get the drop on it, you can beat a Predator Droid without heavy infantry?’'  
_ _Yes, Cadet Pava. If you, as you said, ‘get the drop on it’, you can take it out of play yourself.’_

Her lips quirked—Wexley would love to know that her advice was going to be taken literally.

“Jess?” Niv shouted. Jess turned to see her friend try to juke around another tree, but the droid had learned and anticipated the move and caught Niv. The droid picked Niv up and tossed him against one of the trees across the clearing. His blaster fell from his hand.

The impact from the tree knocked the air out of Niv’s lungs and he dropped to the ground, gasping. Jess winced at the sound. The Predator Droid stalked toward where Niv lay on the ground. It picked up his dropped blaster and threw it far out of reach.

“Blaster’s gone,” Niv called, panic in his tone. “Do something fast, please.” The droid towered over Niv before reaching down and balling its metal fists in Niv’s shirt and lifting him off the ground.

Wexley’s words again hummed in her mind.

_If you’re close enough, the joints are susceptible to weapons. But I do not recommend that as your first line of attack._

Jess said a prayer to the Universe that Niv remembered Wexley’s class as well. “Blade!” Jess shouted and tossed her vibroblade to Niv before she scrambled up the branches of the nearest dunatree: she wanted to end this as fight as soon as possible. Too much longer and one of them would get seriously hurt.

Niv deftly caught the vibroblade and wedged it into the left wrist, cutting off the droid’s hand. He repeated the motion a second time on the right wrist. The droid learned what he was doing and as he severed the right hand, the left arm swung up and hit Niv in the head. The force of the impact threw Niv away from the droid as it dropped him.

The metal hands fell to the forest floor with a thunk. The droid glanced down at the stubs at the end of its arms before turning its focus back on Niv. It slowly and intentionally stalked towards the dazed pilot.

“Kriff,” Niv muttered as he clamored to his feet and backed away from the droid. “Any time now, Jess.”

“Just a little closer,” Jess replied as she positioned herself above the clearing. Niv glanced over his shoulder and adjusted the angle of his retreat to bring the droid into position below Jess.

Jess leapt from her branch and landed on the Predator Droid’s shoulders. The droid reached up, trying to grab her arms with hands that were no longer there. Jess ignored the droid’s movements, focused on her task. She grabbed the sides of the droid’s head and fell to the side, twisting sharply on the droid’s cranium and breaking it away from its neck. She landed hard on the ground, the droid’s head still in her hands. The droid body stuttered for a moment before collapsing in a heap. Jess reached in through the exposed wiring and removed the droid’s A.R.M. chip and snapped it in her fingers. That done, she collapsed back on the wet ground.

“You still alive?” Jess asked eventually.

“Yeah, still here,” Niv replied with a groan. He sat up and looked for Jess. “That thing was…”

“Not old tech.”

“ _Decidedly_ not old tech,” Niv chuckled. 

Jess started laughing, still lying on the ground. “I believe you’re the one who asked where the challenge was. Was that the challenge you were looking for?”

Niv groaned again. “Not really what I had in mind, no.”

Jess sat up and looked at Niv. “Oh, kriff. That was wild. Are you sure you’re good? Looked like you got kinda banged up by that droid.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing to worry about,” Niv said and looked his friend over. His brow knit with concern. “But you’re not.”

“What?”

“Your hand,” Niv said and crawled over to check on her, “it’s cut.”

Jess looked down at her palm. Niv was right: a cut ran across her palm with blood oozing out. “Oh. Didn’t even notice. Must have happened when I took its head off.”

“ _Must have happened when I took its head off_ ,” Niv mimicked. “Like that’s a normal thing to say.”

“Saved your life.”

“Whatever, Pava. You’re the one bleeding.”

“It’s not that bad,” she wiped the wound on the hem of her jacket and showed it to Niv. “See?”

“Bad enough.”

“I’ve had worse before.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’re talking about what you have right now.” 

“Eh. Not a lot to be done about it,” Jess shrugged and got to her feet. She offered Niv a hand up. “Come on, we gotta keep going. The edge of the woods has to be close by.”

Niv nodded and took her hand, allowing her to help him to his feet. “You’re letting me patch that up as soon as we get back to the ship,” he said as he handed her vibroblade back to her.

“Sure thing, Nurse Niv,” Jess winked and put the vibroblade back in its sheath.

“You’re your own worst enemy to your wellbeing. You know that, right?”

“Eh, up for debate. That Predator Droid seemed like a bigger threat,” she smirked. “Go find your blaster.”

Once Niv recovered his blaster, they continued through the woods. They stayed on alert, but no more threats appeared.

“We’ve gotta be close to the edge of the woods,” Niv muttered, “we’ve had to have gone close to 500 meters inward and there are fewer threats…so where are the grounds?”

“I dunno. But I hope you’re right, this has taken longer than we expected and we’re gonna be pressed for time inside,” Jess agreed. “If we take into account how far north we’ve been pushed, tha—aah! Kriff!” Jess shouted as her feet flew out from under her. The next moment, she was hanging upside down from a snare in a tree.

“You ok?” Niv asked.

“Are you kidding?” Jess demanded. “Are you kriffing kidding me?!” she growled again. “Ugggghhh!”

“Is that a real question or rhetorical?” Niv tried to disguise his laugh.

“What do you think, Lek? And this isn’t funny.”

“Ok, but actually, it _is_ really funny.” Niv gave up on hiding it and laughed openly.

“This is so low-tech it’s insulting,” Jess groaned.

“Need a hand getting down?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Jess growled. She wrapped her loose foot across the top of her trapped foot and leveraged herself up, reaching for the rope. She pulled her vibroblade from its sheath at the small of her back and sliced the rope, then dropped to the ground in a crouch.

“That was impressive,” Niv said.

“It’s a skill, like anything else,” Jess muttered. “You should spend more time in the gym. Gotta be able to save yourself if this ever happens to you again.” She winked at him.

“I’ll take that under consideration,” Niv replied dryly. “Ankle ok?”

“It’ll be a little sore, but no permanent damage,” Jess said, untying the remaining snare from her ankle. “Look, there’s the edge of the woods.” She pointed to where the trees thinned out and the grounds of the school opened up. The edges of the buildings were barely visible through the fog.

“Nice work Pava,” Niv grinned as they cleared the woods.

“You did good, too.” 

“Now that wasn’t _that_ bad, was it?” Niv asked.

“Not that bad?” Jess repeated. “That,” she vaguely waved back at the woods, “was the definition of ‘that bad’. There was a new threat every 30 yards. They really had kids do that?”

“Ok, fair enough. But even if it was _that bad_ , we’re done.”

Jess drew her blaster and fired two shots over Niv’s shoulder. He turned, wide-eyed, to see another Stealth Droid fall to the ground, one hole in its chest, one in its head. He looked back to Jess, who grinned. “Now we’re done.”

“See? Fun.”

Jess laughed. “Fine. Yes, it was kinda fun. Onto the building?” she asked.

“Yeah. Where’s the door?”

“Service door is on the south wall, east corner. We’re coming in from the northeast, so we’ll need to go the length of the eastern wall without getting spotted to get to the door.”

Niv grinned. “Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! And here we go! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more story time. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

In its prime, the Arkanis Academy had been a beautiful and sprawling complex. The Empire had retrofitted it into a fortress built by a long-extinct native species, situating the Academy on the top of a cliff that overlooked the sea to the west and the forest to the east. In the days of the Empire, nearly 100 cadets had called the Arkanis Academy home—students with a predisposition for leadership whose Commanding Officers put on the fast-track to Officer status.

Publicly, the Arkanis Academy was lauded for turning out exemplary officers, but privately, it was the subject of gossip, whispers, and speculation. Rumors of a secret society, of Commandant Hux’s ‘secret academy’—the “Commandant’s Cadets”—were plentiful, though impossible to prove. Many of the stories of initiation into the Hux’s group involved the prospective cadet killing a fellow student and making it look like an accident. Other rumors described Hux’s desire to create the officers he wanted to lead in the creation of the soldiers he wanted. None of the rumors had ever been substantiated, though, and Brendol Hux had vanished sometime around the Battle of Jakku.

With the disappearance of its Commandant, the Academy had closed its doors shortly after the New Republic had claimed victory over Arkanis. The grounds and fortress had been vacant ever since. The once pristine lawns were now overgrown and patchy, the stables had fallen into disrepair, and the tenla trees, known for their large and meticulously maintained canopies, were now wild and overgrown. Large topiaries, so long neglected that their shape was lost to time, stood like sentries on either side of the main road to the school, and once manicured hedges were now unkempt and tangled. Snake vines climbed the sides of the buildings, their large bright yellow flowers out of place for such a gray and gloomy place. Everything about the campus said it was abandoned and outsiders were uninvited. But through the fog and rain, faint light could be seen through the windows on the uppermost levels.

Jess and Niv dashed between shadows, methodically working their way to the main building. The years of disuse since the Academy’s closure worked in their favor: the overgrown foliage now blocked many of the cameras on top of the Academy. With the addition of the rain and fog, they were nearly invisible.

When they reached the corner of the building, they slipped into the gap between the overgrown yarba hedge and the cold stone wall. They ran down the narrow path until they were at the southeast corner, meters from the service entrance.

Niv glanced beyond the end of the hedge before leaning back against the stone. “Cam just around the corner—above the door,” he told Jess. She stepped out from the cover of the bushes, took the shot, and destroyed the camera. She moved back behind the bushes and waited for a response. When no one came, Jess stepped forward again, covering for Niv.

“Go,” she ordered. He ran to the door with Jess close behind him. Jess kept her back to the door and stood watch as Niv accessed the security panel.

“What’s the code Gruttel gave us?” Niv asked.

“289841.”

Niv hesitated. “Any chance it’s gonna lead back to him?”

“It shouldn’t—he said it was a service maintenance code. Not tied to any individual.”

“Perfect.” Niv entered the code. The light above the door switched from red to green and the door slid open. Niv grinned. “I love it when codes work.”

They slipped inside, blasters drawn.

“Take a right. Left leads to the Service Bay and cameras,” Niv said.

“Yeah, let’s avoid those.” They darted down the long hallway, passed doors to maintenance workshops, laundry services, cleaning chemical closets, and supply storage rooms. Other rooms were used for droid and weapons storage.

“Is this what all boarding schools are like?” Jess asked. “Weapons storage in the basement?”

“Na,” Niv shook his head. “Mine wasn’t like this.”

“You went to a boarding school?”

“Yeah.”

“Wasn’t the Corulag Academy, was it?”

Niv snorted. “No. That place was long gone before I was old enough to go to school. No, I just went to a standard boarding school, no military angle at all.”

“Right, just a regular old boarding school for the privileged elite youth of Corulag. And you, being one of those privileged elite youth, knew what the service levels looked like?”

Niv shrugged. “I was adventurous as a kid.”

“Or troublesome.”

“Semantics.”

“Is that the technical term for ‘Daddy took care of it’?” Jess grinned, turning away from Niv to check that they weren’t being followed.

“Shut up,” Niv scoffed. “Gruttel said we need to go around this corner and down the hall to the last door on the left. That’s where we’ll find the old stair—” Niv froze midsentence. Jess turned back around and saw what made Niv stop: two Ugnaughts stood in the hallway.

The Ugnaughts looked them up and down.

Niv started to raise his blaster, but Jess stopped him, placing her hand on top of his.

“For Gruttel,” she said softly. “Please. For Gruttel and his family, you didn’t see us.”

Neither of the Ugnaughts spoke. They glanced at each other before the taller one nodded. He turned and looked at Jess and nodded again. The two turned and walked in the opposite direction of the staircase.

Niv and Jess glanced at each other before racing down the hallway toward the emergency stairs.

“How did you know that would work? With the Ugnaughts, I mean,” Niv asked as they ran.

“I didn’t,” Jess admitted. “I just…had a feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“I hoped.”

“Why would they help us?”

“I don't think it was about helping us. I think they wanted to help Gruttel.”

“Why?”

“Sometimes when you can’t see hope for yourself, you can carry on by seeing hope for someone else.”

Niv shot Jess a sideways look but didn’t have a chance to ask what she meant. The emergency staircase door slid open in front of them and they ducked inside. Niv pushed Jess into the far corner of the landing and the camera’s blind spot.

Jess looked up and the staircase. “Fifteen levels of stairs. Great.” She looked around for the camera. “There’s the first cam,” she said, pointing up to the next landing.

“I see it,” Niv nodded.

“What’s the plan?”

“We’ll need to stick to the outside wall and move with the camera,” Niv instructed. “Each flight of stairs has nine steps. Just below the camera in the left corner of each landing or floor and middle step of each flight are constant camera blind spots. We’ll wait there between camera sweeps.”

Jess nodded, focusing on the movement of the camera.

“Move,” Jess whispered. They darted up the stairs and to the corner. The camera stopped its sweep and started back in the other direction.

“Stair,” Niv muttered, indicating to the fifth step up. Together, they moved as a unit to the next blind spot.

The progress was slow but consistent as they moved from blind spot to blind spot, waiting for the cameras to complete their sweeps. Finally, they reached the fifteenth floor.

“I’ll clear,” Jess said, tapping the button to open the door. She stepped through the entrance and looked around. The floor was quiet and empty—just like Gruttel had said it would be. She took a few steps down the hallway, clearing doorways as she went. She turned around to motion for Niv to join her and saw a camera that hadn’t been on the schematics. She aimed her blaster and fired, causing the camera to explode into a ball of sparks and fire.

“Clear,” Jess said with a sigh. “But I may have given away any stealth we had,” she grumbled.

“Camera?” Niv asked as he came through the door.

“Yep.”

“How good of a look did it get of you?” Niv spun the manual wheel lock. They both knew it wouldn’t keep anyone out for long, but it might give them a few vital seconds of warning.

“No idea. Probably pretty decent, though. At least it didn’t get you. And no alarm yet, so…”

“Well, that’s great.” Niv sighed. “Let’s go.”

The two pilots crept down the hallway towards the last door. When they reached the commandant’s office suite, they crouched outside the door and listened.

Niv pointed to his ear and held up two fingers. Sounds like two occupants.

Jess nodded and looked around the doorframe. She gestured at the door from left to right. The door opens to the right. She moved to stand at the left-hand side of the doorframe. She pointed from Niv to the door control panel and raised her blaster to the ready position. You open the door. I’ll clear the room.

Niv nodded. He stayed low and reached up for the controls. He adjusted his grip on his blaster with his other hand and managed to hold up three fingers and begin a countdown: Three, two, one.

The door slid open.

As soon as the door moved, Jess stepped into the room and fired twice, taking out both First Order Officers before they could even draw their blasters. Jess cleared the room and nodded for Niv to enter. As soon as he was through the door he headed straight for the computer terminal. His fingers were flying over the keys before he even sat down.

“You got it?” Jess said after a minute, still standing watch by the door.

“This system is archaic. What, have they not updated since the Empire fell?” Niv complained.

“Can you do it?”

“Of course I can do it. You just keep watch.”

“Hurry,” Jess hissed, turning back to watch the hall. “I’m worried about what that camera got.”

“I’m going as fast as I can. This computer is a relic, though. It belongs in a museum,” Niv replied. “That’s weird,” Niv muttered to himself.

“What’s weird?” Jess asked.

Niv ignored Jess’s question. He narrowed his eyes and tried a few more commands. Eventually, he sat the datacube on the reader and waited for it to glow blue. He tapped in another sequence before the cube began pulsing orange. He sat back and sighed. “Downloading.”

“Great. How long?”

“Three minutes? I’m having to download the whole database to the cube. It’s a lot of files.”

“What? Why?” Jess shot an incredulous look at her friend.

“That’s what’s weird. No idea why and I don’t have time to check, but all of the documents were daisy-chained together. I think it might be because of the encryption program they used. The point is I couldn’t grab one file without all of them. Couldn't even find which file I needed without running a codebreaker on them. But somewhere in that chain are the files we need to find Gruttel’s family. So I took them all.”

“Any sleeper programs?”

“Not that I could find. And what’s the worst that happens? We get extra First Order intel? None of our systems tie back to the NRDF. Might screw with whatever computer it’s opened on, but if we disconnect the computer from the ship, it shouldn’t mess with the 5K at all. It’d a closed loop.”

“Fair enough,” she shrugged and turned back to monitor the hallway.

The room was quiet, save for the hushed fan and muted beeps from the computer.

“Hey…Jess…” Niv said slowly, breaking the silence.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have a plan for getting onto the Star Destroyer?”

“You know, I’m taking this one step at a time. Haven’t gotten that far yet. Why?”

“I think I have an idea of how to get on board,” Niv looked at one of the fallen First Order Officers. “But I don’t think you’re gonna like it.”

“If it gets us on without getting us killed, I like it,” Jess said, her eyes still on the hallway.

“Not sure you’ll still say that when you hear it.”

“Gonna give me something to work with, Lek?”

“You took them out with a headshot. And that officer looks about my size…”

Jess glanced over to where the two dead officers were lying on the floor. The realization of what Niv was suggesting dawned on her a heartbeat later. “We’d really be pushing our luck with that one.”

“Well, you didn’t immediately hate it. That’s something.”

“I’m open to hearing you out, but I’m gonna start by saying this seems like a bad idea.”

“Maybe. But if what Gruttel told us is true, the SD isn’t operating at full capacity. He said no one knows about it and they’re running ‘essential systems only’. That means that certain systems are shut down or unmonitored. Ones that aren’t deemed crucial right now.”

“And you think that might include facial rec.”

“Yes.”

“It’s a big risk, Niv. We’d be assuming they think facial rec is non-essential.”

“A bigger risk than us going in as a Kiffar and a Mandalorian? Besides, they’re cocky—they don’t think anyone knows about them. About all this. The fact we’ve gotten this far is evidence enough of that.”

Jess thought for a moment before nodding. “Do it.”

Niv moved across the room and began removing the Officer’s uniform. Once he was done, he carefully rolled the uniform and tucked it into his bag. “We should hide them.”

Jess looked back and forth in the hallway once more before holstering her blaster. “Closet?”

“Over here.”

Together, they moved the two bodies to the closet. Jess opened the door and revealed a large weapons cache.

“Well, that’s interesting,” Jess said. “Is that a disruptor pistol? I thought the Empire banned those.” Jess picked up the weapon and turned it over in her hands. “This thing can short-circuit a small ship.”

“Yeah, and it disintegrates biologicals atom by atom. These are similar to the weapons that devastated the Lesat. They were outlawed for a good reason.”

“So were interrogator droids, but those were still in use by the Empire. ‘Outlawed’ doesn’t mean that the Empire followed their own laws. And the First Order doesn’t seem to mind, either.”

“I told you…this whole planet is illegal,” Niv muttered. “Even the illegal parts are illegal by their own standards.”

“Welcome to the Outer Rim,” Jess flashed a grin. Niv rolled his eyes at her. “Stock up, we still have an SD to take out,” Jess said and clipped a few thermal detonators and flashbangs to her belt. She grabbed a few other weapons as well: a garrote, razor discs, a pair of stun/concussive batons, the disruptor pistol, and a boot knife. “Oooh,” she said as she opened a drawer. “Data Scrambler. Would have loved this twenty minutes ago,” she said as she stuck it in her pocket.

Niv chuckled and shook his head, but collected a small number of weapons and tech for himself: another blaster, a vibroblade, some flashbangs, a set of binders, and a localized EMP charge.

“Binders, Lek?”

“Never know when you’ll need them.”

“Kinky.”

“You're the worst, Pava.”

Jess winked at Niv and continued to rummage through the closet for anything useful. 

Once they had armed themselves, they moved the bodies into the closet and shut the door. A low ping from the computer drew Jess and Niv’s attention as the datacube went back to a glowing a steady blue.

“Done,” Niv flashed of a smile. He grabbed the datacube off the reader. “Let’s get out of here.”

Jess stepped out the door and looked up and down the hallway before motioning for Niv to follow. They quietly ran back down the hall towards the eastern staircase.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!
> 
> Chapter Text

* * *

_Poe crouched silently on the catwalk above an old combat-training gym and watched the meeting below him. He had to hand it to the First Order—using a defunct Empire Academy as a base of operations was a pretty smart idea: no one would think to check here. He certainly wouldn’t have if not for the anonymous tip he’d received. Below him, a tall, redheaded man in a black General’s uniform was receiving a report from three officers in grey. Five Stormtrooper bodyguards were on alert, watching the proceedings. A small number of Ugnaughts stood nearby, awaiting orders. Poe quietly drew his comm unit out of his pocket, hoping to record at least some of the conversation to bring back to Command. Proof, he hoped, that the First Order was a real threat._

_“General Hux, the Revenant is ready for full occupation,” one of the officers told the tall, redhaired man._

_“It’s about time,” Hux said, “we barely have enough troops up there to keep the ship operating with essential functions, much less the non-essential.” He muttered. “When will our next shipment be arriving?”_

_“We’ll have an entire corps arriving by the end of the week,” another officer said. “40,000 soldiers. All fully trained and ready to begin work onboard the Revenant immediately.”_

_“Excellent. And how goes Project Resurrection? The new soldiers?”_

_“Jinata Security has a harvesting scheduled for the Outer Rim next week. The training academies continue to operate at one hundred percent capacity.”_

_Poe frowned. A harvesting? What did that mean? And J-Sec was involved? Poe knew that J-Sec was sketchy, but never imagined they'd be tangled up in this, too. This was bigger than he'd ever imagined, and he'd known it was huge. He turned his attention back to the meeting below him._

_“And what about the other Star Destroyers?” Hux asked. “When will they be ready for their crews?”_

_“They will be ready shortly. It’s difficult to predict an exact timeline. We’re having some supply chain issues between Kuat and here. New Republic interference,” the female officer said, her voice thick with contempt. Her_ _white-blonde hair and almost translucent pale skin made her look like a ghost of the Empire in the shadowy training gym._

_“Then find a way around them. I want those ships ready by the next cycle.”_

_“Yes, Sir.”_

_Poe slowly got to his feet. He could tell the meeting was coming to an end and he wanted to get out before he was spotted. He hadn’t taken two steps when the old metal beneath his feet creaked loudly. He grimaced—no way the officers on the floor hadn’t heard that._

_“What was that?” General Hux asked, looking up. Poe held his breath. He was high enough and concealed enough that, in the dark, he should be nearly invisible._

_“You! Help me look!” the first officer ordered the Troopers. The Stormtroopers came to attention and began searching as well—with flashlights. It wasn’t long before one of the beams of light landed on him._

_“There!” the female officer shouted, pointing at him._

_Poe ran down the catwalk, away from the meeting as fast as he could._

_“Do not let him get away!” the redheaded man—Hux, Poe reminded himself—shouted._

_Blaster bolts began to fly screaming past him._

_“I want him alive, you fools!” Hux screamed._

_Poe heard the Stormtroopers fire more blaster bolts, but didn’t see the shots go past him. Instead, he heard and then felt the impact of the blaster fire on the support beams for the catwalk. The metal vibrated under the assault. A few more direct hits to the braces caused the section of the walkway to come loose. Poe sprinted to try and make it to the next section of the catwalk, but it was no use. His eyes widened with fear—he was falling. He turned as he fell, hoping to protect his head and spine from the impact._

_Poe landed hard on debris from the fallen catwalk. Pain exploded through his right shoulder, knee, and ribs. His head was ringing. He groaned and tried to get up, tried to escape, but his knee wouldn’t support his weight. He managed to get onto his hands and knees just as Hux and his Stormtroopers reached him._

_“What do we have here? A spy for the New Republic?” Hux sneered and kicked him in the ribs. Poe groaned in pain and collapsed again. “Bind him and take him to my ship!” he ordered the troopers._

_“Yes, sir!” they replied. They searched Poe and took his comm unit and blaster before cuffing his hands behind his back._

_“Taking me home on a first date? How forward of you,” Poe gritted through the pain. “And binders. Didn’t think you military-types would be into that kind of kink. But hey, I don’t judge.”_

_'_ _Shut up, Poe,’ a voice that sounded oddly like Muran said in his head, but it was too late._

_Hux glared at Poe before punching him and knocking him out._

Poe woke with a start. At first, he couldn't remember where he was, but then everything crashed back into his consciousness. _Arkanis. Hux. Captured. Blackout Cell._ He sighed. It hadn’t just been a dream. He was still sitting with his back to the corner in the dark cell. He was fairly confident he was facing the cell door, but couldn’t know for certain. The absolute blackness of the cell toyed with his sense of space and direction. That was the point of a Sensory Deprivation Cell, after all—no light, no sound, no temperature variation or air movement, no physical variations at all, and no sensory input of any kind: just a smooth, dark room. He knew from torture-resistance training that SD cells or blackout cells were used to get your prisoner so confused, disoriented, anxious, and scared that they’d do anything to get out. Poe was determined to not let this cell break him.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been here, though the stubble on his face indicated it hadn’t been that long. He wasn’t even completely sure where here was. He knew that he had been caught on Arkanis and brought here, wherever here was, via carrier ship and that he’d been unconscious or blindfolded the entire time. He knew that he was in a cell in a detention block and was fairly certain that he was on a ship. He'd reasoned that he was likely on Hux's Star Destroyer—the _Revenant_ or something—but the dampeners surrounding his cell eliminated all vibrations from the engines. During the rare occasions he was taken out of his cell, Poe thought he could feel the vibrations of the engine and life support systems through the floor.

He thought he was taken out of the cell to go to the fresher three times a day, but it wasn’t at regular intervals. And when they did take him out of his cell, they blindfolded him. He wasn’t even sure if they took him to the same fresher—time and distance didn’t seem to make sense anymore. Twice since his capture, the guards had forced him into a sonic shower, but they had blindfolded him the whole time for both of those outings as well. Day and night no longer existed for him. The same time distortion was true with the ration bar and water packet that was thrown into his cell twice a day. Sometimes, he felt that he had just finished the water packet when the next one appeared. Other times, his stomach would long be cramped from hunger before the next ration bar would appear. He was grateful, however minutely, that the food did not seem to be drugged and allowed his mind to remain clear and focused.

The distortion of time also held true for the visits from Hux or the Stormtroopers. Sometimes it felt like days between their visits, other times, mere minutes. Not that it mattered. Every time was the same: Hux would ask questions, Poe would respond with his name and rank and NRFD ID number—and an occasional snide remark—and then Hux would hurt him. Or Hux would order a Stormtrooper to do the dirty work. Hux was not particularly creative when it came to torture, Poe had noted, and preferred to just physically beat him to a bloody pulp rather than use any other tools, drugs, chemicals, machines, droids, or mind games. Which was just fine in Poe’s mind—he could take a beating.

He sighed heavily. He knew they kept things unpredictable and irregular to keep him on edge, but knowing didn’t help. He hated that he knew what they were doing to him because then he knew it was working. He felt how his nerves frayed from the confinement. And he was constantly exhausted—even though all he seemed to do was sleep. Poe leaned his head back against the cell wall. No one was coming for him—he knew that. He’d left without telling anyone where he was going or what he was doing. And he wasn’t on a mission—he had done this alone and against orders. The NRDF had no obligation to come after him.

The door to the cell slid open, blinding Poe with bright light. He heard the steps before hands grabbed him and shoved him harshly against the durasteel wall. One hand wrapped around his neck as the other pressed firmly into the center of his chest.

“Who is she?” a voice— _Hux_ , Poe determined—growled.

“Who is who?” Poe croaked, his voice rough from disuse.

“Don’t play dumb, Dameron,” Hux punched Poe in the face, knocking his head against the metal. Poe groaned as he felt his nose break and saw stars explode in his vision. He could feel where the black eye would form and could all but hear the doctors on base scold him— _if I ever get out of here,_ he thought darkly. “The female Republic pilot.”

Poe’s eyes finally adjusted to the bright light, giving him an up-close view of Hux’s rage. He could feel the blood dripping from his nose, coloring his lips and chin crimson. “Don’t know what to tell you,” he hissed. “No idea who you’re talking about.” 

“Who did you call? How did you do it?” Hux demanded, pushing his captive forcefully against the wall. Poe’s shoulders ached from the strain.

“I didn’t,” Poe choked, the hand tightened and threatened to cut off his airway.

Hux sneered and threw him to the ground. With his hands still in binders behind his back, Poe landed hard on his injured shoulder and ribs. He gasped in pain. Hux grabbed him by the hair and dragged him from the cell. Poe scrambled to get his feet under him and keep pace with the tall man. After so long in the dark, his eyes struggled to adjust and stung. Hux didn’t slow down when Poe stumbled and tried to catch up, staring straight ahead the whole time.

When they reached the bridge, Hux threw Poe against one of the consoles, the edge catching him in the stomach and forcing the air from his lungs. Poe dropped to the ground, forcing himself to take slow and steady breaths through the pain.

Poe forced his sensitive eyes open and looked around, both in awe and terror of what he saw. He had known the First Order had Star Destroyers, but he'd thought they were Empire relics, not this new, state of the art monstrosity before him. And he knew there were more of them out there. 

“So this is the bridge of the _Revenant_? I gotta say, Hux, I’m impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you. It’s so shiny and new. Is this your first time?” Poe goaded with fake bravado. Again, the oddly Muran-like voice sounded in his head: _Stop talking, Dameron._ He ignored it.

Hux grabbed Poe by the back of his shirt and forced him onto his feet. He pushed his prisoner to a security station with a camera feed. “You mean to tell me that you don’t know _her_?” he demanded, a scowl on his face. He shoved Poe’s face towards the screen.

Poe blinked, trying to focus his eyes on the image. The blue light of the screen burned his sensitive eyes. He blurrily watched as a figure in a beat-up leather jacket with a dark braid stepped out of a doorway began cautiously walking down the hallway. It looked like a hallway from the Arkanis Academy—where they had captured him. When the figure turned their head to check over their shoulder, Poe's eyes fully focused on the screen and he froze. There were marks on her face that he didn’t know, but he’d recognize that face anywhere: _Jess_. Her name rang in his mind like a prayer, full of hope and horror. As soon as she saw the camera, she lifted her blaster and fired and the screen dissolved to static. He couldn’t think of a single logical reason why she would be on Arkanis. Maybe Hux was finally getting creative with his torture and adding in some mind games.

“I don’t know her,” Poe lied to Hux. “Never seen her before.”

“You’re lying.”

“Honest. No clue who she is. You sure she’s not one of yours? Seems like it’s a big operation you’ve got going here. Hard to know everyone. New hire? Maybe she’s looking for her orientation class.”

Hux glared at him and shoved him back to the ground before kicking Poe in the stomach. Poe curled into himself, trying to protect as much of his body as he could.

“The prisoner doesn’t know anything,” Hux said into his comm. “Dispatch troopers to dispose of the intruder.”

“She’s no one. Probably just some common thief. Why kill her?” Poe asked, his eyes squeezed closed against the painful light. Hux kicked him again, this time making contact with his jaw and splitting his lip. Poe groaned.

“So you _do_ know her,” Hux growled.

“No, I just don’t want you to kill some poor person who has nothing to do with this,” Poe lied.

“Stop lying!” Hux shouted.

Poe gave a maniacal laugh. “Gods, you’re a shit interrogator. ‘Tell me!’ and ‘Stop lying!’ Pathetic,” he mocked. He knew he was on dangerous ground, but if that really was Jess in the security footage, he wanted to give her every chance he could. “Didn’t you ever go to a class or a seminar or something? Interrogation 101?”

Hux roared and pulled Poe to his feet. He pushed Poe down: his back against a console, forced to arch at an uncomfortable angle. Hux took a vibroblade from his belt and held it to Poe’s throat. “Tell me what I want to know.”

“Really? You’re gonna cut my throat? And let me bleed out all over your nice new floor? Amateur move,” Poe challenged with a choked laugh. “I doubt you have enough troopers on this ship to clean up after you. My blood could sit on this floor for hours. And you know the thing about blood—it stains. Even durasteel. It’ll stain your floors and you’ll forever be reminded of me. Every time you step on this bridge, you’ll remember that you failed—you never managed to break me.”

“I’ll make an example out of you, Dameron,” Hux growled menacingly. “Record your death and send it to anyone with a holonet frequency in the entire galaxy: The New Republic Fleet, the Resistance, the Senate, your friends, your father— _everyone_. Let them watch as the light leaves their poster boy’s eyes. After that, no one will dare stand against the First Order.”

“No, you’ll make a martyr out of me,” Poe grinned madly. “And that’s much more dangerous.” He could taste the blood in his mouth. “Because behind a martyr…is a belief. And you can’t kill a belief.”

Hux glared at Poe before pulling the knife from his throat. Poe let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding when Hux suddenly backhanded him across the face, sending him flying. He felt his forehead split as he hit the sharp edge of a console and the impact of his body on the floor. His tortured eyes the relief of the darkness in the seconds before he lost consciousness. Poe's last thought was of Jess before his world faded to black.

Hux looked down at the unconscious pilot, bleeding onto his bridge floor. “Send troopers to the bridge. Two to take the prisoner back to his cell and two from sanitation to remove any blood from the floor,” he ordered crisply into his comm. Dameron was right about one thing—he didn’t want blood stains marring his brand new ship. “And bring me that intruder.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that is a ripoff of "V for Vendetta."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Halfway down the stairs, the overhead lights blinked out. Eerie red emergency lights flickered on, dimly lighting the staircase. Jess and Niv looked at each other.

“That was a power cut,” Jess whispered.

“Yep.” Niv nodded, looking up the staircase. “They know we’re here.” He breathed.

“The guard’s next round isn’t supposed to be for another ten minutes,” Jess hissed.

“Apparently they’re early tonight.”

Above them, a door opened and the clatter of plastoid armor echoed down the stairs.

“And they brought friends,” he added.

“Kriff,” Jess swore. “Forget the cameras. Run.”

The two pilots began sprinting down the stairs, jumping the last few to every platform.

“You there! Halt!” the mechanized voice of a Stormtrooper shouted from a few floors above them. He pulled out his blaster and shot down between the flights of stairs at them.

Jess flinched as the blaster bolt passed so close to her face that she could feel the heat coming off of it. “They’re actually Stormtroopers. Like, honest to Gods Stormtroopers from the Empire,” Jess said as she jumped down a few stairs. “What the hell?”

“I can see that,” Niv muttered. “Dameron was definitely onto something. More than the NRDF recognized.”

Another blaster bolt flew past them, scarring the wall just above Niv’s head.

“In here!” Niv shouted, wrenching open a door. Jess dashed through the open door and Niv slammed it shut behind them. Niv spun the wheel lock and Jess shot it to seal the door before turning around to find herself face to face with someone. Or rather, some _thing._

“Kriffing shit,” she gasped, jumping back and raising her blaster.

“Cool it, Jess,” Niv said, catching her by the shoulders. Jess took a deep breath and looked at what had startled her. The unnatural red emergency light illuminated a humanoid droid—similar to a Protocol Droid, but it lacked the stiffness and formality and…general _pleasantness_ that seemed to be a design feature of standard Protocol Droids. This droid looked mean: like it was built for speed and strength and intimidation rather than service. Its face was severe in the dim light.

“What is that?” Jess asked.

“It looks like a Prefect Droid,” Niv said, walking around it.

“A what?”

“Prefect Droid. They’re kind of like Protocol droids, except they're programmed to have more authority. They use them in boarding schools to monitor the kids in the dorms. My school used them.”

“Your school used these?” she raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “They let these things around _kids_? Kriff, boarding school sounds like hell.”

“Well, not this model. The ones on Corulag looked…nicer, I guess. But these are old—probably from when the Academy was still in operation.” Niv pulled a flashlight out of his pack and shone it down the hall a few meters. “It looks like we’re on a dormitory floor. There should be another flight of stairs at the far end.”

“What is that?” Jess asked, pointing down the hallway. A sharp silhouette stood dark against the emergency light. The effect was unnerving.

Niv shone his light on it. “Another Prefect Droid,” he said and aimed the light a little farther. “And it looks like there are a few more throughout the hall. Must have been put here for storage.”

“Great. So we’re in a dark and empty former Imperial school dormitory hallway filled with what might be the most terrifying droids I’ve ever seen _while ACTUAL_ Stormtroopers are chasing after us. And all we need to do is just get past a small army of these droids to the other end of the hall and then down the stairs on the wrong side of the building and then back across the grounds to get to safety,” Jess muttered. “This isn’t bad, not at all. It certainly isn’t the plot of every holohorror film ever made.”

“Scared, Pava?” Niv baited her.

“I’m not a big fan of these droids, no,” Jess replied. “They're making me a little nervous. Plus our plan is pretty much out the window, so we're winging it.”

“We’ll be fine, Jess. As far as plans go, we’ve done more with less. And these droids probably haven’t had power in years. But we’ve gotta move before those very real Stormtroopers break down the door,” he said, drawing his blaster.

“If we’re gonna be fine, why did you draw your blaster?” Jess hissed.

Niv gave her a lopsided grin. “Hey, those things are creepy.” He held his flashlight in one hand and his blaster in the other and began to make his way down the hall.

“I hate you so much sometimes,” Jess muttered. She put her blaster back in its holster and removed the stun batons from her belt. She tested her grip on the batons with both hands before following after Niv.

The hall was silent as they moved down towards the other staircase. The disquieting red emergency light gave the entire hall an ominous feeling. Niv’s flashlight cut through the red light and threw distorted and menacing shadows on the walls around them. On either side of them, open doorways led to dark bedrooms, still made up to military perfection—never mind that no students had attended or lived at the Academy in over twenty years.

“I don’t like this place,” Jess shuttered. They were about halfway down the hall and hadn’t seen or heard any sign of the Stormtroopers. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Why?”

“I dunno. It just feels…off.”

“Do you believe in ghosts, Pava?” Niv asked.

“Not usually, but when we’re in the hallway of a school that’s commandant committed war crimes against his own cadets and had the students kill each other to join his club? Yeah, I could believe in ghosts,” Jess said shortly, nervously shifting her grip on the stun batons. “You?”

“Oh yeah. Back home—” Niv was cut off by the sound of pounding and blaster at the door behind them.

“Guess they found where we went,” Jess muttered.

“Don’t worry about it—with the destroyed lock, it’ll take them some time. We’ve just gotta keep moving,” Niv told her.

They continued to move silently down the hallway, the Prefect Droids standing like silent sentinels along the hall. While she couldn’t say exactly why, Jess hated the droids. They gave her the creeps.

A loud metallic shriek broke the eerie silence. It echoed through the hallway.

“What was that?” Jess asked. She looked around the unsettling hallway, made even more ominous when bathed in red light.

“Probably just the Stormtroopers at the door,” Niv said, trying to hide his nervousness.

“No way. It was way closer than that,” Jess said quietly.

“Jess, it’s just you and me in here.”

“And the droids,” Jess said, her eyes wide.

“They’re ancient. They’ve been powered down for decades.”

“Then why did that one just move?” Jess pointed to a droid they’d just passed. Niv whipped around to see the Prefect Droid’s head had turned to face them.

“We must have bumped it,” Niv tried to reason, though he could feel his fear growing.

“No, we didn’t,” Jess shook her head. "You know we didn't." 

The Prefect Droid’s eyes flickered to life and it straightened up to its full height: nearly two and a half meters tall.

“Ok, no. You’re right. It’s definitely moving.”

“I thought you said they hadn’t had power in years.”

“I was guessing,” Niv hissed.

“S-s-s-s-students out of b-b-bed?” The Droid stuttered to life. “S-s-s-students out of b-be-bed?”

“No. No students here. Just…passing through,” Jess said.

“S-s-state yo-yo-your p-p-p-purpose or be de-de-destroyed.”

“Well that’s a bit sinister,” Niv said, staying between Jess and the Prefect Droid as he slowly backed them away. “What purpose doesn’t get us killed?”

“St-st-st-state authorization-zation co-co-code,” the droid demanded.

“Um…”

“Intruders! Intruders! Intruders!” The Droid began wailing. All around them, the other Prefect Droids started to turn themselves on and began echoing the “Intruders!” wail.

Jess ducked around Niv and lashed out with the stun baton, shorting out the droid. The droid seized before its eyes went dark and it dropped hard to the floor.

“Kriff. Run,” Niv said as he turned around and began running down the hallway, blaster firing.

Jess sprinted behind Niv, swinging her stun batons to short out at any droid that got within reach.

They were almost to the end of the hallway when Jess felt herself get pulled back.

“Kriff!” she shouted. She turned her head to see a Prefect Droid’s face over her shoulder. It had a grip on the collar of her jacket.

“Take off your jacket!” Niv shouted as he fought to get back to her; another droid was blocking his path, trying to capture him as well. Jess threw her arms up as she released her batons and dropped to her knees, slipping her arms out of the jacket. As soon as her arms were clear of the jacket and her knees hit the ground, Jess’s blaster was in her hand. She turned sharply and fired two shots into the Prefect Droid’s head. The Droid stuttered to a halt, its orange eyes flickering before going dark. Jess grabbed the stun batons from the ground and turned to pull her jacket from the droid’s grasp, but it was held tightly in the Droid’s lifeless metal hand.

“Leave it. Leave it! Let’s get out of here. We gotta go!” Niv said. He pulled Jess away from the droid and to the door. He forced the door open and shoved Jess into the stairwell before following her and slamming the door closed. He spun the lock and fired one shot into the locking mechanism to jam the door. “Run!” he shouted and they took off down the stairs.

The heavy black clouds had given way to a torrential downpour as they burst out of the door at the bottom of the stairs. The two pilots ducked behind a row of tall hallahalla bushes to regroup. 

“What the hell was that with the droids?” Jess asked as they caught their breath.

“My guess is some kind of security feature,” Niv replied. “Like an internal backup battery or something programmed to respond to any perceived threat.”

“Fantastic,” Jess muttered. “Any ideas?”

“I’m open to suggestions,” Niv said, leaning forward and looking through a small gap in the bushes. He wiped the rain out of his eyes. “I don’t think we can go out how we came in.”

“Wait…” Jess paused. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“Slight vibration. Like a…a garage bay door opening,” Jess said distractedly. She jogged down the path toward the far corner of the building.

“Jess! Wait! What are you doing?” Niv hissed as he followed her.

“We’re at the other end of the building, right?” Jess said distractedly. “The west end?”

“Yeah, so?”

Jess turned with mischief in her eyes. “That puts us next to the Service Bay. And Service Bays…”

Niv realized where Jess was going. “Have ships,” he finished.

“They already know we’re here, might as well make our escape in style,” Jess grinned. They raced the rest of the way along the side of the building to the south-western corner. Jess poked her head around the corner and pulled back quickly as three speeder bikes zipped out of the Service Bay. The pair waited for any further ships to exit, but none did. Jess chanced a look around the corner and into the Service Bay. The Bay was empty, but the garage door had been left open.

“Come on,” Jess said and motioned for Niv to follow her. 

The two pilots crept into the Service Bay, remaining behind larger ships and maintenance equipment to avoid detection. Ships of all sizes, makes, models, and origins filled the Service Bay. Some of the ships were new while many of them showed years of wear and tear. 

“That one,” Jess said, pointing to a green Naboo Flash Speeder. They ran across the open bay to the ship. As soon as they reached the speeder, Jess dropped to the ground and crawled underneath it. She flipped open her multitool and wrenched open a hatch to be able to reach into the inner workings of the ship.

“What are you doing? The starter is already in the ignition,” Niv asked.

“Not trying to hotwire. Just want to give it an extra boost,” Jess muttered as she twisted some wires together and bypassed a few entirely.

“We don’t have time for this,” Niv said, bouncing on the balls of his feet and anxiously watching the internal door and the open garage entrance.

Jess slammed the hatched closed. “Done.” She jumped to her feet and into the pilot’s seat. “Get in.”

Niv slid across the nose of the speeder and jumped into the passenger seat. Jess hit the ignition and revved the engine to life.

“Punch it,” Niv said. Jess grinned and rocketed out of the Service Bay. The rain stung their faces as they raced across the grounds.

“I think that if we go north, we might be able to get out to the old pastures. We’re not looking for stealth anymore, so we’ll blast out an energy field transponder and make our escape.”

“Sounds good!” Niv shouted over the wind and rain.

“You’re on lookout,” Jess hollered back. Niv nodded and pulled out his blaster.

“How are you going to get to the transponder? We didn’t look at that part of the map!”

“I’ll figure it out. You just look out for those—” an explosion behind them rocked the speeder. They both glanced behind them to see the speeder bike zoom through the flames. “Speeder bikes,” Jess finished, looking forward again. “Use the mounted blaster.”

Niv nodded and returned his blaster to its holster. He climbed over the seat to access the defense cannon and flipped it on.

“You got him?”

“I’ve got him,” Niv muttered, as the weapon warmed up. “Just hold it steady.”

Jess wiped the rain out of her eyes. “You got it.”

Niv focused on his breathing and lined up his shot. He squeezed the trigger and fired two blasts. The first hit the ground next to the speeder bike. The second struck the speeder bike’s nose, sending it spinning out of control until it crashed in a fireball twenty meters to the right.

“Good shot. See the other two?” Jess called.

Niv smirked. The heavy rain made the speeder bikes nearly invisible, but years of training to spot specks of movement in the black of space gave him an advantage. He lined up another shot let out a slow breath and fired again. This time, the first shot hit home and the speeder bike exploded on impact.

“Where are you?” Niv muttered, looking for the last speeder bike.

“Do you see it?” Jess shouted.

“No,” Niv responded. He could feel the water as it ran down his back and into his boots. He pushed the sensation out of his mind—he needed his focus to be razor-sharp on the task at hand, not on the water saturating his clothes. “Kriff! Yes, they’re right there!” he shouted, but it was too late.

An explosion to their left threw them off course.

“Damnit,” Jess hissed and corrected the ship. “Where’d he come from?”

“Sorry about that. Visibility is shit. I didn’t see him until it was too late,” Niv replied.

“It's fine. Can you fire at him?”

“No, he’s hanging right in line with our wing. It’d be a risky shot.”

“But could you take it?”

“Probably, but I’d rather not in the rain. Too much could go wrong.”

Jess looked around before her eyes landed on a tree straight ahead of them. “I have an idea! Get down!” she shouted and pushed the speeder to go faster.

Niv slid down into the backbench of the speeder and watched Jess fly. Since he’d first met her at the NRDF Academy, he had loved watching Jess behind the controls of a ship. Her determination to be like her idol Luke Skywalker had driven her to become one of the best pilots in the NRDF. For all of her energy, ferocity, and chaos on the ground, she was equally cool, collected, and self-assured in the cockpit. Jess seemed to be able to instantly run through every scenario and make a decision on what to do before anyone else had caught up to her. She would make dozens of split-second decisions before she ever moved her ship and when she did move, it was intentional, graceful even. He remembered the first time he’d flown with her: she’d been three steps ahead of everyone else in their SIM module. Her intelligence, skill, and confidence in her abilities were the qualities that initially drew Niv to get to know the often prickly Dandoran pilot. It was only a few months after their first SIM together that Antilles had pulled her for private instruction with Dameron.

The speeder bike kept pace with them, the Stormtrooper pilot splitting his attention between steering his bike and firing his blaster at the intruders.

“Hold on!” Jess said and released the ship’s throttle. The sudden decrease of speed jarred the two pilots, and the speeder bike screamed past them. The Stormtrooper turned around to see where the other ship had disappeared to. By the time he looked forward again, it was too late. The final speeder bike slammed into the tree and exploded in a ball of fire.

“Whoohoo!” Niv exclaimed as he climbed back into the front seat. “Hell yeah!”

Jess grinned and gunned it towards the line of trees to the north.

A blinding light flooded the grounds, temporarily blinding them. Jess squinted to see where the light was coming from. The light glared through the raindrops, making them shine like gems and intensifying the reflections in the pilots’ eyes. The lit fog made the grounds glow a hazy yellow. Jess swerved away from the light and squinted, willing her eyes to adjust faster.

“I think north is out of the question,” Niv shouted.

“You think?” Jess shot back.

“I’m open to Plan B!”

“This _was_ Plan B!”

“Then I’m open to whatever you’ve got!”

Jess bit her lip, looking from left to right. “Do you trust me?” she asked eventually.

“Oh, that is such a loaded question,” Niv muttered.

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. Hang on,” Jess said and turned the speeder to the right.

“Jess, we’re going west.”

“I know.”

“That’s the direction of the cliffs.”

“I know.”

“Jess…what are you doing?”

“Checking out what this thing can do,” she said with a grin and pushed the throttle forward.

“Oh my Gods, you’re kriffing insane,” Niv said and scrambled for his crash webbing.

“Hold on!” Jess said with a grin and drove the ship off the edge of the cliff. As soon as they cleared the cliff, Jess cut the repulsorlifts and let them freefall.

“What are you doing?” Niv shouted.

“Need to reset!”

“What? _Why_?”

“Three…two…one,” Jess counted down before slamming her hand back down on the ignition starter and kicking the repulsorlifts back to life. Jess laughed wildly as the repulsors reengaged and slowed their freefall to a controlled descent, following the steep slope of the cliff. Jess flew the ship towards the zig-zag staircase leading from the Academy grounds above down to the sand below. She began to surf the ship down the stairs, making every sharp turn with precise ease. “Needed to reset to kick in my modifications. That’s the boost I gave it!” she grinned.

“You know what? You’re absolutely ridiculous. Certifiably insane. Positively mental!” Niv said, eyes wide. “What were you thinking? We could have died. We probably should have died! Who does something like that?”

“Please,” Jess shrugged and turned another corner of the stairs, “that wasn’t so bad.”

“Whatever. Tell me that again when my stomach and heart catch up to the rest of my body,” Niv closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Whatever you thought about the training course in the woods, this was so much worse.”

Jess laughed. “Oh, come on. You’re a starfighter pilot. A rocket-jockey. Flyboy extraordinaire. This should have been nothing. Don’t be such a wimp.”

“I fly a pressurized and highly tuned ship in the black. Not off the edge of cliffs with GRAVITY involved,” Niv countered. “Totally different.”

Jess smoothly brought the ship down the last flight of stairs and onto the sandy beach. “I think you’re splitting hairs here, Lek,” she teased.

“Get us back to our ship so I can get out of this death trap you’ve got me in,” Niv muttered.

“Right away,” Jess grinned and turned the ship south, quietly flying along the coast back to their ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points if you can identify the Doctor Who episode that inspired some of this chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Jess parked the speeder in the woods, a few hundred meters from their ship. She killed the engine and looked at Niv. “Is there an anti-surveillance tarp under the bench?” she asked.

Niv reached under the seat and felt around before he pulled out the tarp. “Yep.”

The two of them covered the ship and made their way back to the docking bay. Jess couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the term. In reality, the ‘docking bay’ was a large duracrete slab that off-worlders could pay to park their ship on while visiting Arkanis. It offered no utilities or services—just the cracked duracrete and a crabby Kel Dor demanding payment. They were at the edge of the concrete when Niv stopped and pulled Jess back.

“Shh.” Niv ducked into the bushes, motioning for Jess to follow.

“What?” she hissed.

Niv nodded his head towards the other ships. Jess followed his line of sight and saw two Officers in grey and two soldiers talking to the Twi’lek pilot of a light cruiser, docked just down the row from theirs.

“Damnit,” Jess muttered.

They watched the other pilot argue with the Officers before one of the officers pulled out a blaster and pointed it at the Twi’lek, who finally let the officers and guards board his ship.

“Run,” Jess said. The two of them sprinted to their ship and dropped the ramp.

“Have a plan?” Niv asked.

“Yep, give me your bag,” Jess said. Niv tossed the satchel to her. “Good. Leave the ramp down and unbutton your shirt,” she ordered as they boarded their ship. She grabbed his pack and stashed it in one of the smuggler drawers under the bench seating.

“What? Why?”

“Public displays of intimacy make people uncomfortable,” Jess said. She began pulling off layers of her disguise and dropping them on the floor as she moved into the fresher.

“I would tend to agree, yes,” Niv shouted after her.

“So when those Officers and soldiers get here,” Jess replied from the fresher, “wouldn’t it be a shame if they interrupted something more than they were expecting?”

“You’re kriffing insane.”

“So you’ve mentioned.” Jess grinned as she stepped out of the fresher and tossed him a towel. She had stripped down to her under-tank and pants, removed the black lenses from her eyes, and accented her Kiffar tattoos with black designs. “Now unbutton your shirt and take your boots off. Then dry off a bit.”

Niv sighed, but did as she said.

“Happy?” Niv said, standing barefoot in his tactical pants. Jess grabbed the boots and dropped them haphazardly onto the floor. “What are you…?”

“Undo the top button of your pants,” Jess instructed him.

“Why—”

“Just do it,” Jess demanded as she unbraided and shook out her hair. Niv complied and turned back to Jess.

“Well?” he asked. She reached up and messed up his hair and hung the towel around his neck.

“Perfect,” she smiled.

“So what exactly is the plan?”

Jess pulled him over to the table and hopped up to sit on it. “It would be a shame if they found us in a compromising position,” she quirked her eyebrows suggestively.

“Whoa, Jess…”

“When they come, you just…act natural.”

“Natural?” Niv asked with a laugh.

“Yeah. Like they just pulled you away from the best night of your life.”

“Is that what you think you’d be for me?” Niv asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Jess smirked. The sound of the soldiers’ voices grew louder. Jess looked down the ramp and then turned back to Niv. “Kiss me.”

“What?”

“Kiss me.”

“Jess—”

“You want to be alive long enough to apologize to Ayla for this? Do what I say. Kiss me,” Jess ordered. Niv hesitated, but leaned in and kissed Jess. She grabbed the towel around his neck and leaned back, pulling Niv with her. Niv let out a surprised grunt, but allowed her to bring him down until he was lying on top of her on the table, his hands bracketing her body. Jess continued to kiss him, leading the ruse. 

The sound of someone clearing their throat drew their attention.

Niv broke the kiss off and looked up at the two soldiers standing halfway up the ramp and the Officers stationed at the bottom. Niv could see the First Order insignia on their sleeves.

“Can I help you?” Niv asked as he slowly untangled himself from Jess and moved to the top of the ramp.

“We’re…ah…sorry to disturb you and your wif—girlfr—partner, Sir…” one of the soldiers said with an awkward cough and glance back at the officers, “but we are…ah…looking for two criminals. We, um, believe they came this way. Have you seen them?”

“Baby, who is it?” Jess said and sat up.

“Just some soldiers,” Niv said casually—as if it was normal for them to be patrolling a planet. “Looking for some criminals.”

“Criminals?” Jess repeated and moved to join Niv.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are we in trouble?”

“No, ma’am,” the second soldier said quickly. “We just wanted to know—”

“Actually, that depends,” one of the Officers, an olive-skinned man, interrupted and walked up the ramp. “I am Captain Tyro, this is my associate Major Raffton. Can we see some identification?”

Jess glanced at Niv before nodding.

“Of course. What is this about?” Niv asked as Jess disappeared into the cockpit to retrieve their fake chaincode IDs.

“There was a break-in at a nearby compound. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?” Major Raffton, a woman with white-blonde hair and pale skin, asked.

“There’s a compound nearby?” Jess asked, returning with the identification. “We’re just here overnight. We had no idea we were near anything important. The map just said there was Scaparus Port and the defunct Arkanis Academy.”

“Where have you been today?” Captain Tyro said, glancing at their IDs.

“We went for a hike,” Niv answered, “did some physical training and explored the coastline. Nothing out of the ordinary.” Jess had to hide her smile. He wasn’t technically lying.

“And why are you soaking wet?” Raffton pressed, her blue eyes as piercing as laser fire. “And why was your ramp open?”

“We were at the market to get dinner and shop the local vendors. We were still out when the storm began and we had to run home in the rain,” Jess answered, taking the ID cards back from the captain. “We got back, and, well…I guess we got carried away,” she smiled sheepishly.

“Late dinner,” Tyro commented.

“You know how space travel is—your whole routine gets thrown off,” Niv replied casually.

Do you have any proof of being at the market?” Raffton continued, uninterested in Niv’s response.

“Yes,” Jess said and picked up a bundle of fabric from the bench seat the Niv hadn’t noticed before. She pulled on the blue shawl and showed it to the officers. “It’s beautiful craftsmanship. I didn’t know Arkanis was known for their knitwear.”

Niv worked to control his face. He knew he’d never seen that shawl before, so where had Jess gotten it from?

“Yes, our artisans are quite talented,” Tyro agreed. “Anyway, we are going ship to ship to ask if any visitors have seen anything weird tonight.”

“No,” Niv shook his head, “nothing. Should we be worried? Are we in danger?”

Raffton glared at him before turning to her counterpart. The two shared a look before she turned back to Niv. “No, I don’t think you need to be tonight.”

“Good,” Jess sighed and looked back at Niv. “Then I think _we_ still have plans for tonight.” She stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. “React like I am telling you we’re going to live out your wildest fantasy tonight.” She went back to being flatfooted and looked at Niv with a quirked eyebrow and a suggestive smile before she turned back to the officers and soldiers. “Thank you for protecting this community and being so thorough in your search. Arkanis is fortunate to have such dedicated civil servants.” Niv cleared his throat to hide his scoff—Jess never talked about anyone like that, especially not someone like an armed guard randomly searching ships. “Good luck,” Jess said and turned back to Niv and put her hand on his shoulder. She traced her fingers down the length of his arm and hand as she walked away and into the bunkroom.

“Is there anything else?” Niv asked the officers. “Are we in trouble or something?”

“Not at the moment, but I don’t trust you. Or your _partner._ So if I were you,” Raffton narrowed her eyes at Niv, “I would leave Arkanis as soon as possible. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Niv agreed. “Perfectly. As I said, we’re only here for the night.”

“Good,” the major said and left the ship.

“Sir?” one of the soldiers asked. “So…you haven’t seen anything? You’re sure?”

“No, I…ah…we were having a pretty nice night until you all showed up,” Niv rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and looked where Jess had gone. “So if you’ll excuse me…”

“We apologize, Sir,” Tyro said. “Please...uh…continue with what you were doing…” The remaining three visitors moved down the ramp and onto the ground. “Be sure to secure your ship if you’re going to be…distracted—er—occupied—er—” 

Niv raised his eyebrows. “Goodnight,” he said in a singsong tone, hitting the button to close the ramp.

As soon as the ramp was sealed, he let out a breath.

“Well, that went well,” Jess said, leaning against the doorway to the bunk, dressed in dry clothes. “Though that woman was suspicious.”

“How did you know that would work?” Niv asked as he pulled off his damp shirt and walked towards the bunkroom to change as well.

“What, you think you’re my first fake tryst? Please,” she smirked and moved out of his way. “Sorry about that kissing thing. It was the easiest way I could think of to throw them off their game.”

Niv snorted. “Don’t worry about it. The market was a nice touch. Where’d you get the shawl?” he asked from the bunkroom.

Jess looked down at her shawl. “At the market. Like it? I bought it today. Best way to get a shopkeeper to tell you what they know? Try on their merch and they’ll start talking. If you buy something, they’ll tell you just about anything you want to know. Plus, it’s always a good idea to have something that’s a different color or style than your typical clothes or disguise—throws people off the scent. Add in changing up the facial tattoos and I could be anyone. Maybe I look a little like the woman from the surveillance tapes, but not exactly.”

Niv reemerged from the bunkroom and put his hands on his hips. “Now why exactly do you know that? Know what? Never mind. Don’t tell me. More secrets I bet,” he muttered.

“Sorry.”

“Figures,” he grumbled. “Did you get what you needed from the shopkeeper?”

“I was checking up on Gruttel.” 

“And?”

“You think I would have gone through with this if I found something troublesome?”

“Yes.”

“You hurt me,” Jess brought a hand to her chest in mock indignation. “I would have at least told you if something was going on.”

Niv smirked and collapsed onto the bench seat. “I’m so tired. That was insane.”

“I thought you called it fun.”

“Individually, yes—all components were fun. Back to back, though? Exhausting.”

Jess sat down next to Niv’s head and ran her fingers through his damp hair. “Thanks for trusting me, even when I don’t tell you everything.”

Niv laughed. “I’ve known you long enough to know you’ll come through. Though that cliff maneuver…I could live very happily _never_ doing that again.”

“That was nothing. You should see some of the stuff I’ve pulled before.”

“When?”

Jess opened her mouth to respond but stopped.

“Kriff, were you a spy or something? Is that why you can’t ever tell me anything?”

“No,” Jess laughed, “decidedly not. No, I, ah…I just realized that I’m about to admit to committing a crime to you.”

“Oh, you can’t just say that and leave me hanging. Now you have to tell me,” Niv twisted his body to look at Jess right side up.

Jess bit her lip before muttering, “I…use to race illegally before I came to the Academy.”

“What? No way,” Niv grinned broadly and pushed himself the rest of the way up. “No way. You’re joking.”

“Honest. I was caught, actually, and was supposed to go to prison, but Antilles worked out some deal that I would go to the Academy instead.”

“Shit,” Niv laughed. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” Jess sighed. “Not my best life choices. I was a teenager and…yeah.”

Niv started to say something but ended up just laughing again. “If that’s just one of your secrets, I can’t even imagine the others.”

Jess shook her head. “Trust me, this is the most exciting one. The rest…not so much.”

“Still wanna know.”

“You will.”

“Eventually.”

“Eventually,” Jess confirmed. “But right now, we’ve got some work to do.”

“Right,” Niv groaned and pushed himself off the bench seat. “Where’s my bag?” Jess kicked the drawer open and tossed the bag to Niv. He caught it and walked over to the computer terminal: dropping the bag on the desktop and laid down on the ground under the station. He unplugged a few cables to disconnect the computer from the main ship. “Go to the main nav computer.”

“Ok,” Jess said. “There.”

“I need you to isolate the auxiliary computer and disconnect it from the main digital processor.”

“Got it,” Jess replied and ended all shared programs before separating the systems. “Done. You should be good to go.”

“Perfect. Now…let’s see what all’s on the cube,” he said as he pushed himself off the ground and into the chair. He pulled the cube out of the bag and placed it on the reader and waited for it to pulse orange. The screen blinked and windows opened. Niv’s fingers flew across the keyboard, entering commands and overrides faster than Jess could follow.

“How’s it going?” Jess asked, looking over his shoulder.

Niv paused and turned to look at her. “There are layers and layers of encryption. This might be a while.”

Jess stepped back, hands raised. “Message received. I’ll just…go over here,” she grinned and sat back down on the bench. “Holonovel ‘a while’ or game ‘a while’? Just so I know what I’m in for.”

“Definitely holonovel.”

“Gotcha,” Jess pulled out her datapad and pulled up her novel. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Niv replied noncommittally, his focus solely on the screen in front of him.

Jess sighed and looked down at her novel. She knew it was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, stole the distraction technique from Black Widow and Captain America.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Niv dropped heavily onto the bench next to Jess’s feet and sighed. He’d been working on the cube for hours without a break.

Jess powered down her datapad and looked up. “How’s it going?”

Niv rubbed his eyes. “It’s all encrypted. Some of it multiple times.”

“Need me to take over? I’m not as fast as you, but I know what I’m doing.”

“Na,” Niv shook his head. “The sentient part is done. Now I’m just running a program on it to break through the rest of the way.”

“Which software?”

Niv smirked tiredly. “My own.”

“Damn. Ok. Showing off your skills, I see,” she grinned and leaned back against the wall. “How long do you think til you get through?”

“It’s gonna be some time.”

“How much?”

“Another hour or two? Like I said, there are a couple layers of encryption,” he sighed. “It would be a lot faster if I didn’t have to isolate the auxiliary processer from the rest of the ship. Otherwise, I could have multiple processors running simultaneously, but I’m not willing to risk the main computer in case there is a sleeper program buried in the data.”

“Could also be faster if we had an astromech. They’re isolated processors with incredibly high resilience to sleeper programs. And almost sentient.”

“Have one in your pocket?” Niv asked.

Jess snapped. “Damn. Left it in my flight suit.”

“There are droids who will still fly with you?” Niv teased.

“What?”

“I’ve heard rumors.”

“From who?”

“The droids gossip, _Great Destroyer._ ”

Jess swatted at his arm. “Rude.”

“True.”

Jess sighed dramatically. “Not having this conversation.”

“Quitter.”

“Have you been able to break the files apart yet or are they still all linked?” Jess changed the subject.

“They’re separate now. Some are more encrypted than others, but…” Niv’s voice faded away.

“Something’s bothering you,” Jess said. “Spill.”

“I’m just thinking…why was that computer so old?”

“Gods, you’re still on that?”

“No. I mean, well, yes. But…the machine itself shouldn’t have been that low tech. Not for the type of encryption it was running. That system isn’t designed for that level of software. It made it easy. It’s almost like they wanted it to get taken.”

“We’re sitting here waiting for encryption software to break through multiple levels of code so we can even get into the files. That doesn’t seem low tech.”

“I shouldn’t have had to grab all of it. And it shouldn’t have been so _easy_ to grab all of it.”

“Maybe it was a diversion,” Jess suggested. “Make people think there’s nothing there worth taking.”

“Maybe.”

Jess wrinkled her brow. “Aside from being old, was there anything wrong with the computer?”

“No, why?”

“What if it was for conversion?”

“What are you thinking?”

“We know that they have a Star Destroyer. A _new_ Star Destroyer. But no one has written program code for a Star Destroyer since the war. Star maps, planet intel reports, hyperspace lanes—they don’t have it. And programs from thirty years ago aren’t going to communicate correctly with modern systems, right?”

“Not without an update. Where are you going with this?”

“Remember the Mon Calamari scenario in Antilles’ Analytics Survival class?”

“Yeah. You had to do a critical systems update between ships without a service bay. And while floating in the middle of the ocean on a piece of driftwood.”

“Forget the driftwood. Remember how we did it?”

“We ran the update through a datapad,” Niv’s eyes grew wide. “Because the easiest way to convert something to a new operating system is by running it through a computer with both programs available.”

“And where do you find a computer that can read both?”

“You find an old computer and install an update.” Niv let out a low whistle. “I hate to say this about the First Order, but that’s actually kind of genius.”

“It explains why everything was tied together. It has to be so any edits can be read by both the old operating system and the new operating system.”

“It also explains why it wasn’t better protected. That old machine was being pushed to its limits to run the two systems co-independently. Adding any additional protections could have fried the whole hard drive. Which means that what we have on that cube…”

“Could be nothing. Or it could be everything you need to run a Star Destroyer.”

“Damn. So in a round-about way, they did want it to be easy to take.”

“They just didn’t count on us,” Jess yawned and leaned her head against the wall.

Niv smiled tiredly. “No, they didn’t.” He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes to rest them for a minute.

Two hours later, Niv woke with a start. He looked around—they were still in the main cabin of the ship. Jess was leaning against the wall of the ship, her legs still stretched across the bench. He groaned and sat up. His neck and shoulders were sore from his awkward sleeping position.

“Jess—you awake?” Niv asked, shaking her leg.

Jess went from asleep to fully awake near instantly. Tension rippled through her body as her eyes quickly scanned the room before landing on Niv. She relaxed and rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?” Jess groaned.

“Late,” Niv replied and blearily looked at his chrono. “I mean early.”

Jess groaned and swung her legs off the bench. She stretched her arms over her head and rolled her neck from side to side. “We’re gonna feel this later.”

“Probably.”

“One of us should probably get some real sleep. I have a feeling we won’t get much of a chance after this.”

“You go. I’ll watch the computer,” Niv offered.

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Thanks,” Jess smiled tiredly.

A ping from the computer drew their attention.

“Or maybe not,” Jess muttered and pushed herself to a sitting position. Niv stood, moved to the terminal, and dropped into the chair. Jess forced herself to her feet and went to the small galley. She opened a cabinet to find cans of self-heating instant caf. She grabbed them and gave them a shake to activate them before heading back to the computer terminal.

“And?” Jess asked. She offered one of the rapidly warming cans to Niv.

“Aaannd…” Niv typed a few commands, “in,” he said with a flourish and took the can from her hand. “Let’s check it out.”

“Yes!” Jess leaned over Niv’s shoulder, her eyes scanning over the information in front of her. “Holy shit,” she whispered.

Niv let out a low whistle.

“Some of this is dated,” Jess indicated to the file dates, “those won’t be any use. And some of it is just common knowledge—hyperspace lanes, star systems, language translators. But some of it is current.”

“And damning,” Niv said. “Supply lines, blueprints, payrolls—wanna bet there’s at least one senator on here?”

“That’s what scares me,” Jess said. “What else is there?”

“Um…” Niv clicked through some additional files. “This one is still encrypted, but it looks old.”

Jess looked at the data on the file. “Created by Brendol Hux. Yeah. Old. But I wanna know more. He’s bad news. Anything with his name on it is worth checking out.”

“There’s so much here, Jess,” Niv said, scrolling through the list of files.

“We’re looking for anything about Ugnaughts. We’ll come back to the rest of this.”

“Right,” Niv agreed. “Ugnaughts. What do I even search for?”

“I dunno. Prisoner Records?” 

“Helpful,” Niv deadpanned. He sighed. “Ok…let’s see what we can find.”

“Can I help?”

“Umm…yeah,” Niv said. “There’s no malware in here, so I’ll drop some to your datapad to read through.” 

“You got it.” Jess dropped into the captain’s chair and pulled out her datapad. Niv dropped files to her to begin combing through.

The two continued searching, eliminating files as quickly as they could.

“I think I might have something. What’s his clan name?” Niv said.

“Uzdo.”

Niv scrolled through a list of names and numbers as he muttered to himself. “No…no…no…no…no…yes! I found them!”

Jess got up from the pilot’s chair. “Yeah?

“Yeah. They’re being held somewhere in the Outer Rim...I have coordinates. Get on the nav computer.”

Jess nodded and moved to the nav terminal. “Ready.”

“934.763, 286.534,” Niv read. “That’s near Calamari Space, I think.”

Jess input the coordinates. “Yeah,” she said, looking over the star map and planetary intel report. “Those coordinates are for the planet Lothal. It doesn’t look like there’s much there of interest—a few cities, some Empire-era mines, a BlasTech Weapons Lab, and a few Empire-established educational institutions that the New Republic has since taken over. Otherwise, mostly undeveloped land. Lots of open fields and rugged terrain. Pretty typical for a former Empire stronghold. Where are they being kept on planet?”

“Looks like it’s some kind of camp,” Niv said.

Jess felt her chest constrict: both Dandorans and Corulags knew all about camps. “What kind of camp?”

Niv turned back to the file. “It looks like a work camp.”

Jess swore under her breath. “Not surprising. The Empire always used Ugnaughts for manual labor, makes sense that the First Order would follow that model. Are they still alive?”

“As best I can tell.”

Jess nodded. “Good. Pull the file.”

“There’s a lot of other Ugnaught families being kept at that camp.”

“Pull them all. We’ll let Gruttel make the call on what he wants to do with it.”

“Got a chip?”

Jess went to the main console and pulled a spare datachip from a drawer. “Here.”

Niv plugged the chip in and downloaded the file. “Done.” He said and handed the chip to Jess. “How many flashbangs did you grab?”

“A few, why?”

“Do we have a spare blaster?”

“Spare?” Jess smirked.

“Can we deal with one less?”

“Probably. _Why?_ ” Jess asked again.

“We’re sending a lone Ugnaught into a First Order labor camp. We can’t go with him, but we should give him as much help as we can. Places like that…we both know that they just need a spark to start a revolution.”

Jess nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost time for us to meet Gruttel,” Niv yawned. 

“Great,” Jess sighed, pulled out a medkit, and took two stims out. “Catch.” She tossed one to Niv.

“Great,” Niv echoed dryly as he twisted off the cap. “Stims. My favorite.”

“I don’t think we’re gonna catch any sleep tonight,” Jess said as she popped the cap off of her stim and injected it into her hip. “And we don’t have any room for mistakes.”

“Probably not,” Niv agreed and injected the stim into his thigh. “I hate these things.”

“I know,” Jess winced on his behalf. The comedown from the stim hit Niv harder than most people. “How many can you string?”

“Three is when it gets bad,” Niv said, recapping the stim needle and dropping it in the recycler. “Four max.”

“Pizo sticks still take the edge off?”

“You have some?” Niv asked, surprised.

“I saw them in the cabinet when I grabbed the caf. Karé and Iolo hooked us up.”

“They’re good people. Yeah, Pizo sticks will help.” 

“Alright. So 4 stims, 15 hours each. We have, what, max 60 hours?”

“Maybe a little more with the Pizo sticks.” 

“Timer starts now, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Niv said and bounced on his toes, getting his blood flowing and spreading the stim through his system.

“You should armor up. We need to meet Gruttel soon.”

“Roger that,” Niv said, energy returning to his voice. 

Niv went into the bunkroom to pull out his Mandalorian armor from the storage drawer. On the counter, he saw the ignition starter for the stolen speeder. “Hey Jess!” he shouted.

“Yeah?” came the reply from the fresher. 

“What are we gonna do with that speeder?”

“I don’t have plans for it. Why?”

“I have an idea.”

\---

Niv and Jess waited in Jasko’s, both back in disguise. They sat in the same booth that they had met Gruttel in two nights prior.

Jess looked around the shop. She’d been in enough “Always Open” places to know that a sharp difference usually existed between their day time clientele and their nighttime clientele. That difference, however, didn’t seem to exist as Jasko’s. The same locals she had seen drinking Corellian Whiskey by the pint two nights ago were still here, now with a cup of caf in their hand.

“Would you want to run a place like this?” Niv asked, startling Jess out of her thoughts.

“What?” Jess asked with a laugh. “Is that stim messing with your head?”

“You know, when you retire—”

“If I make it long enough to retire,” Jess interrupted.

“Dark, Pava.”

Jess laughed. “You’re the one who made it dark. I was suggesting that I’d get kicked out or something before I could retire,” she teased. “But you’re right: starfighter pilots aren’t exactly known for their long lifespans.”

“As I was saying: when you retire _or_ are otherwise no longer NRDF: would you want to run a place like this?”

Jess considered it for a minute. “I mean, I like the idea of running a place that sticks it to fascist authorities, but no,” she shook her head. “I don’t think that I can see myself ever planting my feet on the ground long enough to do something like this. If I retire, I imagine I’ll go private sector—keep flying as long as I can. You?”

“I dunno,” Niv said thoughtfully. “Ayla’s studying to be a doctor, so once I decide to hang up my helmet, I don’t know what I’ll do,” Niv said.

“Thinking about your future?”

Niv shrugged. “It’s still a few years away.”

Jess squinted her eyes and peered at her friend. “I could see it. But you’d have to make really good caf if you’d want me to be a patron. And serve good alcohol.”

“Good caf _and_ good alcohol? You have some high expectations,” Niv said. His voice was altered by the Mandalorian helmet, but Jess was sure he was smiling.

“How else do you expect to bring in the rocket jockeys?”

“What about—”

“Do you have what I need?” Gruttel’s voice interrupted them.

Jess turned to greet the Ugnaught. “Hey. Join us,” she motioned to the empty seat.

Gruttel climbed up onto the chair and glared at Jess. “Do you have what was promised?”

“Yes. They’re being held in a work camp on Lothal,” Jess informed him.

Gruttel nodded grimly. “The First Order is following the groundwork laid for it by the Empire—former stronghold worlds will be the first to fall to their breed of power. Just like Arkanis.”

“You’ll need this,” Jess said and offered him a canvas bag.

“What is this?” the Ugnaught asked as he opened the satchel.

“You’re going to try and infiltrate a work camp in First Order held space to liberate your family,” Niv indicated to the blaster and two flashbangs, “you’ll need a good weapon. And a distraction.”

“We can’t go with you, but we want to give you every tool we can. Give you every chance possible at rescuing your family and getting out alive. And who knows? Maybe you’ll spark a revolt and take a camp out.”

Gruttel nodded slowly. 

“And that datachip has all the information we could find about your family and the families of any other Ugnaughts being held there,” Jess said.

“And what of this?” Gruttel said, holding up the ignition starter and homing beacon.

“You’ll need to book passage off of Arkanis. We stole a speeder from the Academy, figured you could make better use of it than us. It’s hidden in the woods,” Jess nodded to the homing beacon, “and that’ll help you find it. Now that speeder isn’t going to buy you your own ship, but if you sell it for scrap, you’ll be able to afford very discreet transport to just about anywhere from just about anywhere. You’ll probably have some leftover credits from the sale, too. Enough to get a start somewhere far away from here,” Jess said.

Gruttel silently stared down at the small assortment of goods in his hands. He looked at them as if they were all made of fine Andoran Crystal—precious and rare. “You held up your end of the deal, Pilot,” he finally said with a nod, “and an Ugnaught is true to their word.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black disk that he offered to Jess. “This has the clearance code and registration of a First Order supply ship. It will get you into the _Revenant’s_ hangar unopposed _._ ”

“Thank you.” Jess pocketed the black disk.

“The codes are changed every 36 hours. This one is 20 hours old. You must leave now if you are to make it before the code changes.”

Jess looked at Niv, who shrugged. “No rest for the wicked, I suppose.”

Jess nodded and looked back at Gruttel. “Again, thank you. And good luck. I hope you find your family.”

“May the Force be with you, Pilot,” Gruttel said before turning and disappearing out the door.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Armitage Hux stood on the bridge of the _Revenant._ It was quiet: just four officers and two Stormtroopers on the floor with him. Like the rest of the ship, the command deck was minimally staffed and would be until the new batch of Stormtroopers arrived next week.

Hux stared at the surveillance screens and watched his ship operate. He watched as his Stormtroopers unloaded supply ships in the hanger, as his officers completed their tasks at their stations, as his TIE pilots inspected their vessels, and as all of his other soldiers went about their assignments. It was satisfying to see the plans of his father and his own efforts come to fruition in such a satisfactory way. These were his soldiers: all of them efficient, all of them perfect. And all of them his. And soon there would be thousands more of them: equally efficient, equally perfect, and equally his.

He pulled out his datapad and checked on his prisoner. The grainy green feed showed a beaten and bloody Poe Dameron sitting hunched in the corner, his eyes closed. Beaten, but not broken. Hux glowered at the image: this man had been far harder to crack than he’d anticipated. Breaking the pilot had been neither efficient nor perfect. It had been quite the opposite: frustrating, tedious, and riddled with errors.

The door behind him hissed open and admitted a female officer with white-blonde hair and pale skin. _Major Raffton,_ Hux remembered. She was in charge of the supply chain between Kuat and the First Order and led ground operations on planet at the Arkanis Academy.

“Pardon me, General Hux,” Major Raffton greeted with a salute. “You asked to see me, Sir?” she fell into parade rest, waiting for Hux to speak. Hux smiled: she was efficient, perfect.

“Major Raffton. Did you find her?” he asked in a clipped tone.

“No, Sir.”

“How did a single woman manage to infiltrate your academy?”

“She was not alone. She had a partner, but we never got a clear image of their face. Even so, it’s clear that they had inside help. They knew where cameras were, they knew guard rotations, they knew how to get in and out without triggering security protocols.”

“Who?”

“We don’t know, Sir.”

“And no evidence of who they were?”

“No, Sir. We did recover this jacket, though. One of the destroyed Prefect Droids was found with it,” Raffton reported and held out the leather jacket.

Hux glared at the jacket. While distinctive, there was nothing about it that would identify it’s owner. “What did they take? What were they after?”

“We’re not certain. The intruders killed Lieutenant Zenio and Lieutenant Wills and raided the weapons cache in the old Commandant’s office, and then stole a speeder from the service bay.”

“Anything else?”

“Scans indicate they may have tried to access our secured records.”

“Did they get anything, Major?” Hux asked dangerously.

“We don’t think so, General. If they did, it’s highly encrypted. They won’t be able to get anything. I’m certain.”

Hux glared at the Major, but accepted her response. “Anything else to report?”

“Major Tyro and I have completed our search of the area surrounding Arkanis.”

“And?”

“We did not find the exact woman from the tape.”

“Then why are you not still searching?” Hux demanded.

“We found someone who looks similar. I believe it was the woman from the security feed in disguise.”

“And what makes you say that, Major?”

“She and her partner were suspicious, but we checked their chaincodes and nothing came up. They didn’t give us reason to arrest them,” Raffton said.

“And you couldn’t come up with something?” Hux snarled.

“Not on the spot, Sir,” the Major replied. “We were…thrown off.”

“How so?”

“When we arrived, they were having an intimate moment.”

“Are you not a professional?”

“I am, Sir. I apologize.”

“Your apologies are meaningless now,” he glared at the woman in front of him. “You have a bright future with the First Order, Major Raffton. I would hate to see it go away because of a lack of professionalism. Do you need a trip to reconditioning?”

“No, Sir,” the woman swallowed. _Good,_ Hux thought, _she’s scared of me._ “It will never happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t,” Hux said. “Where did this pair say they were from?”

“They didn’t, Sir. They said they were traveling. Just on Arkanis for the night.”

“They’re probably off-planet by now,” Hux hissed. “Is there any chance they were from the New Republic?”

“I don’t think so, Sir. They were flying a JM-5K.”

“Those hunks of junk still fly?”

“Barely,” the Major replied. “This one’s interior seemed to be in better shape than most, but I wouldn’t want to fly it, and I doubt anyone from the New Republic would want to, either. And I’m sure the New Republic pays better than that. No, I think if they were associated with the New Republic, they were hired. Bounty hunters or otherwise. But even so, I don’t think that they were hired by the New Republic. They tend to hire well-established hunters, which is something these two were not. I believe they are no one to be worried about.”

“Bounty hunters hired by the New Republic might be after my prize in the blackout cell.”

Raffton scoffed. “I would not worry about these two coming after your prisoner, Sir.”

“And why is that?”

“They don’t seem up to the task of infiltrating a Star Destroyer,” Raffton replied.

“Do they not?” Hux asked. “Do you forget who is in that cell?”

“No, Sir. I am aware that you have captured Poe Dameron.”

“Yes. Pride of the New Republic Defense Fleet. A prize to be coveted. Knowing his value, why don’t you think they are up to the task of mounting a rescue attempt, however ill-conceived, to recover Dameron?”

“They’re petty thieves. No ones.”

“And yet these two managed to infiltrate your base, Major Raffton. They seemed quite capable of that task.”

Raffton shifted uncomfortably. “As I said before, Sir: if they managed to take anything from the Academy’s computers, it will be useless to them. That level of encryption is beyond the skills of most people, even skilled slicers. They took weapons and a speeder. They do not strike me as criminal masterminds.”

“We’ll put that JM-5K on the alert list, just in case,” Hux ordered.

“Of course, Sir,” Raffton nodded. “Shall I dispose of the jacket?” 

“Ye…” Hux stopped, a plan forming in his head. “No…I have a better idea,” Hux said and grabbed the jacket from her and left the bridge. He made his way down to the Detention block and his solitary prisoner.

Hux keyed the door open and strode into the dark cell. The bright light blinded his prisoner.

“Are you awake?” he sneered.

Poe raised his head and squinted at him. “Good morning to you, too.”

Muran’s voice echoed in his mind again. _Poe! Shut. The fuck. Up._ The accent and dictation were exactly how Poe remembered Muran sounding. This time, Poe listened to the voice.

“I thought you might like to know that we found her: that woman from the security feed. And you were right—she was a no one. And now she is no longer,” Hux taunted and threw the leather jacket at Poe’s feet.

Poe inhaled sharply but otherwise showed no emotion, staring blankly at the jacket. There was discoloration on the hem: it looked like dried blood.

“You seem distressed. I’ll leave you with your thoughts,” Hux smiled cruelly as he exited the cell and closed the door, plunging Poe back into the pitch black.

* * *

Poe squeezed his eyes closed, trying to ward off tears. He hadn’t allowed himself to feel anything since he was captured. He had thought he’d find a way out—get away with a story to tell. Every beating only galvanized him to survive, odds be damned. He was Poe Dameron—impossible was his brand. Now, though, with this new information…his will was wavering. 

He hadn’t been certain that the woman on the video was real, much less that she was actually Jess. But now the jacket was here—in his cell. And the jacket…that was real. So was the blood, he knew. After so long without sensory input, the smell of the leather and blood was almost overwhelming. And if both the jacket and the blood were real, then the footage of the person at Arkanis Academy was real. And that meant that maybe it _had_ really been Jess wearing it on the security feed. And if it _had been_ Jess…then Jess was dead.

Poe took a shaky breath. This was either a very elaborate mind game or…or Jess was gone. Given that Hux hadn’t shown the creativity to come up with something this extravagant on his own, it seemed likely that Jess had been killed by the First Order. It wasn’t until that realization hit that Poe recognized that he had been holding onto a hope that it had been Jess and that she would somehow find him. But now, the small flicker of faith Poe had been holding onto—the flicker that made him believe that he could survive this—faded away to nothing. He was suddenly aware that he would most likely die here.

He shook his head and tried to bring himself out of the fatalistic Sarlacc pit he’d fallen into. He knew that the blackout cell had taken away his sense of time, had taken away every distraction, had frayed every nerve, and had turned his own mind against him. His creative brain that could find every possibility in the cockpit was now in overdrive, creating every worst-case scenario possible. He tried to pull himself out of that line of thinking, but he couldn’t find something else to hold onto: everything else seemed to slip away.

He swallowed thickly. He thought of the people who will mourn him: his team knew where he’d gone—they would at least have some answers. And if that wasn’t Jess…if she was still alive…she would find out from Iolo and Karé what had happened. But there wouldn’t be a body. And his father…his father would be heartbroken.

Poe carefully felt around with his feet until he found the jacket and pulled it closer to him. He maneuvered it onto his lap where he could feel the weight of it against his chest and smell the worn leather. With the weight of the jacket comforting him, he leaned his head back against the wall and let his tears fall.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Gruttel had been right: between refueling their ship, planetary customs, flying to Känu III _,_ and all the other incidentals of interstellar travel, there was very little room for error. By the time they’d reached transmission range to the _Revenant,_ the window for the code to be accepted was dangerously narrow.

Niv emerged from the bunkroom, dressed in the gray dress uniform of the First Order. “Thoughts?”

“It fits, but I don’t like it,” Jess said, mostly dressed in her Kiffar disguise. “The uniform looks wrong on you.”

“If the Rebellion had lost, this probably would have been real for me,” Niv motioned to the uniform.

“Don’t. Don’t say that,” Jess shook her head. “I don’t want that thought.”

“Sorry,” Niv grimaced. He looked down at the nametag pinned to his chest. “Lieutenant Anton Zenio,” he muttered. “Think he’s Corulagan?”

“We can hope. Or we hope that no one has met him and so they don’t know,” Jess said and offered Niv a second stim. He scowled at the device, but took it and injected himself as Jess did the same.

“Provided this code works: we’ll get on board—me as an officer, you as a prisoner—and I take you to the Detention Block. We’re still assuming that’s where they’re keeping Dameron, yeah? So then we find him, get him out, and get him back to the ship. Somehow. And that’s all we’ve got.”

“Yeah. You know that this is the weakest plan we’ve had since we left, right?” Jess shook her hair out before she wrapped it in her maroon scarf.

“It’s your plan,” Niv pointed out.

“And I’m the one calling it weak and insane. Probably means you should be calling it suicidal and idiotic.”

“I don’t think any of us were planning on Dameron being held on a Star Destroyer,” he laughed nervously.

“Would you have still come with me if you’d known we’d be trying to infiltrate an SD?” Jess asked.

“Without question,” Niv said sincerely.

Jess smiled and opened her mouth to respond when a beep from the comm interrupted her.

“Unidentified shuttle, provide clearance codes immediately,” a voice chirped from the console.

“Well, they see us. Now we see if this code is worth the effort it took to get it,” Niv said as he dropped into the pilot’s seat and slipped Gruttel’s black disk into the computer. He cleared his throat and pressed the button on the comm. “Star Destroyer _Revenant,_ this is Lieutenant Zenio,” Niv began. Jess had to do a double-take at him—on the comm, he spoke with a thicker Corulag accent than she had ever heard him use before. “Be advised, I am in an unregistered JM-5K pirate vessel with one prisoner in custody.”

“Lieutenant Zenio, submit clearance codes and your identification number for verification.” 

Niv sent the code and Lieutenant Zenio’s identification number.

Jess reached over and cut the mic. “How close are we?” Jess whispered.

“If the timeline Gruttel gave us is good, the thirty-six-hour mark is in two hours. So, it’s an old code, but should still be good,” Niv answered.

“We hope,” Jess said and released the mic.

“Lieutenant Zenio, this code is nearly expired,” the First Order comms officer said.

“But it is not yet expired, is it?” Niv said, his voice sharp. “And as I said before, I am bringing in a prisoner and her ship. Grant me access or I will speak with General Hux about this.”

“Yes, Sir.” The comm officer’s voice replied quickly. “You’ve been granted access to land. Follow in-cabin messages to reach the landing bay.”

“Thank you,” Niv said and cut the mic.

“Didn’t know you could make ‘thank you’ sound like an insult,” Jess mused.

“You do it all the time.”

“Well, duh. I know that ** _I_** can do that, I just didn’t know **_you_** could do it with your upbringing,” she teased.

“Shut up.” Niv rolled his eyes. “My mother may be the most polite woman you’ll ever meet, but don’t doubt for a second she can’t cut you with her words and leave you wondering if it was a compliment or an insult.”

“She sounds like a gem.”

“She’s great. Just don’t get on her bad side,” Niv smiled. He followed the in-cabin messages and brought the ship closer and closer to the Star Destroyer.

“Damn. Look at the size of that thing,” Jess said as she leaned forward to see more of the Star Destroyer.

“I know we’ve faced them in sims, but I never realized how huge SDs are in reality,” Niv said. “What is this, Imperial-class?”

“I think so, yeah. It’s so big. Even when Gruttel was telling us about building them, didn’t think they could be real,” Jess gawked at the size of it.

“You need to go back to the cabin.”

“Why?”

“If they do a scan, we can’t let them see a prisoner in the cockpit,” Niv replied.

“Right,” Jess nodded once. “I’ll wait for you in back.”

Jess stepped back into the common space of the ship and looked around. She'd never been good at sitting still. Sitting still meant waiting and waiting meant she wasn't in control and not being in control meant that her fate wasn't in control...well, that wasn't an option. Instead, she distracted herself: she rewrapped the scarf that covered her hair, she checked each of the weapons as she packed them into the beat-up leather satchel, she double-checked the medkit: anything she could do to keep her mind occupied. When there was nothing left for her to do, Jess laid down on the bench and closed her eyes. The vibration of the ship lulled her into a near-meditative state. She visualized their plan: landing the ship, finding the Detention Block, opening Dameron's cell, seeing him dead on the floor. She jumped awake from the nightmare image that had invaded her mind. She sat back up and looked into the cockpit and out the viewport. Niv had engaged the landing gear and was about to set the ship down in the hangar. 

A few minutes passed as Niv shut the ship. Jess calmed her breathing and waited for him to join her. “Ready?” he asked as he exited the cockpit and pulled the binders from his jacket pocket.

“As I’ll ever be,” Jess said and stood.

“Is this the bag?” Niv gestured to the leather satchel.

“Yeah. You need to bring that ‘ _evidence’_ with us.”

“Ok,” Niv looked her up and down. “I see the boot knife. Where are your other weapons?”

“I’ve got them.”

“Where?” Niv asked as he looked for them on Jess’s body.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Jess smirked.

Niv rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Hands behind your back.”

Jess took a deep breath and hesitated for half a moment before she nodded and complied. “Had to grab the binders, didn’t you?” she tried to tease. She didn’t want Niv to see her nervousness. 

“Told you they’d come in handy,” Niv said as he secured Jess’s hands behind her back.

“Mmm-hmm,” Jess agreed uncomfortably.

“You ok?” Niv asked, concerned.

Jess huffed a breath when she realized that she wasn’t as good at hiding her issues with being restrained as she’d hoped she was. “Yeah…just don’t love restraints,” she replied shortly. Memories of Gloarten and Ibanjji came unbidden to her mind. She pushed the thoughts away and took a steadying breath. It had been a long time since she’d had to push these particular thoughts and discomforts out of her head.

“Just a few minutes,” Niv promised, “and I’ll be right there with you. We just gotta get out of the hangar.”

“I know,” Jess nodded. She could tell Niv didn’t believe her.

“Hey. You gonna be ok?”

“You’re dealing with stims for nearly two days, I can deal with cuffs for ten minutes,” Jess gave a weak smile.

Niv shook his head. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Minimize your discomfort,” Niv said. “You don’t need to compare it to mine. Both suck.”

Jess smiled softly. “Ok.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jess agreed. “Missing my jacket right now.”

“Weird thing to say.”

“It’d be easier to hide more weapons.”

“Fair,” Niv said with a smirk. He slipped three small objects into her pocket. “Here.”

“What is it?” Jess asked.

“Smoke bombs. In case you can’t get a weapon out and we need to make a quick getaway.”

“Where did those come from?”

“Fully equipped Mandalorian armor. Ask Iolo when we get home,” He grinned. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah. Ready,” Jess nodded.

“Ok. Let’s do this,” Niv said and opened the ramp. He squared his shoulders and put one hand on the back of Jess’s neck. With his other hand, he drew his blaster and pushed the muzzle into Jess’s side. “Safety’s on,” he whispered.

“Better be,” Jess breathed as Niv pushed her down the ramp.

“Lieutenant Zenio,” the Stormtrooper saluted.

Niv nodded a response. “Trooper.”

“Can I escort you someplace, Sir?”

“And why do you presume that I will need an escort?”

“I don’t believe you’ve ever been on board, Sir.”

“And how is that your business, Trooper?” Niv snapped.

“Apologies, Sir.”

“I did not ask for your apologies.”

“Right. I—”

“How can you make yourself useful, Trooper?”

The Stormtrooper cleared his throat. “I…ah…your transmission said you had a prisoner in custody, Sir.”

Niv squeezed Jess’s neck and jabbed her in the side with the blaster. Jess inhaled sharply. “Obviously,” Niv said, his voice dripped with disdain.

“I’ll take her to the detention block, Sir,” a Stormtrooper stepped forward and grasped Jess’s arm.

“And give you further opportunity to prove your incompetence? I think not. I will take her myself.”

“Sir, I don’t—” 

“General Hux insisted I bring her myself,” Niv interrupted the Trooper. Jess was impressed—when he played up his accent, he sounded like an Imperial. “Do you dare question orders?”

“No, sir.”

“Right then. As you were,” Niv glared and them and pulled Jess off of the ramp. “Move, you scum,” he said with a shove towards one of the arched doorways.

“Necessary?” Jess muttered.

“Selling it,” Niv whispered. “Come on.”

They were halfway across the hangar when a familiar crisp accent reached their ears.

“Where did this ship come from?” the harsh voice demanded. Niv glanced over his shoulder and saw the white-blonde officer from Arkanis.

“It’s Major Raffton,” Niv whispered.

“Happy thoughts, Niv. Just keep walking,” Jess hissed to Niv. “Don’t think about her.”

“It just landed. It had appropriate clearance codes for a supply ship,” a Stormtrooper replied.

“Does that _look_ like a supply ship?” the major demanded.

“No, ma’am.”

“Are you aware that there is a JM-5K on the Watch List?”

“No, ma’am. The officer said he had commandeered the ship from a pirate. He was escorting the prisoner.”

“Officer? Which officer? Who?”

“Lieutenant Zenio.”

Niv moved his hand from Jess’s neck to the binders, ready to release them.

“You idiots. Lieutenant Zenio was killed on Arkanis!” Major Raffton shouted. “Where did they go?”

“Lieutenant Zenio—er, I mean the imposter, told us that General Hux wanted him to bring the prisoner directly to the Detention Block.”

“And you let them go?” Raffton was incensed. “Tell me about this prisoner.”

“Female. Kiffar by the looks of her. Golden face tattoos, black eyes. Hair was covered in a maroon scarf. She was dressed like a smuggler.”

“Twenty more steps and we’re out of the hanger,” Niv whispered. Jess gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

“Do you not pay attention to security briefings, Trooper?” the Major demanded.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. We did not realize they were a security threat.”

“I don’t care about your apologies, go find them!” she screamed.

Niv thumbed the release on the binders as soon as the hanger doors closed behind them. “Run,” he whispered as he pocketed the binders.

Jess grabbed the leather satchel from Niv’s hand and slung it over her shoulder. The pair took off down the empty corridor.

Jess was grateful that the ship was minimally staffed—fewer troopers to run into. That fact didn’t change that their plan was no longer viable. “So the plan just got kriffed,” she muttered.

“Yeah, well, we knew that was coming.”

Jess huffed a laugh. “Really, Lek?”

Niv shrugged. He pointed ahead of them to an open panel that led to an access ladder. “There. Go up.” Jess veered to the left side of the corridor and scrambled up the ladder.

“How many floors?”

“Just keep going,” Niv said, right behind her. “The higher we are when they realize what we did, the more distorted their vision will be. I think. Depends on how quality their HUDs are in those helmets.”

“Great,” Jess muttered.

“Either way, that armor isn’t going to make this ladder easy.”

Jess chuckled, but kept climbing.

“You there! Stop!” a voice came from below.

“Found us,” Jess said.

“Get out soon as you can,” Niv said. Jess nodded and climbed to the next access point. The sound of plastoid armor banging against the access tube echoed up to them. Jess reached the next panel and popped it open. She and Niv climbed out and then re-secured the door.

“Where are we?” Jess muttered to herself.

“I don’t know. We gotta hide, though,” Niv said and pushed past her. He started hitting door panels, looking for an unsecured door. Jess copied him: hitting door panels on the other side of the hall.

Jess slammed her hand on a panel and the door slid open. “In here!” Jess called.

Niv led the way into the room, blaster raised. “Clear.” 

Jess code locked the door behind them. “What do we got?”

“It’s a meeting room.” Niv surveyed the room and checked the internal doors and cabinets. “All empty. They haven’t stocked the ship yet.”

“A meeting room means we’re probably on the Command deck, right? So we should be able to find a computer to tell us where Dameron’s being held.”

“All good, except that the only doorway out of the room leads to the main corridor. Any ideas on how to get out of here?”

“Where’s the droid access point?” Jess asked as she walked the perimeter of the room.

“What?”

“Meeting rooms like this usually have droid access points for serving droids. ‘bout the size of an R2 unit.”

“How do you know that?”

“Read about it somewhere,” Jess muttered as she ran her hand along the wall.

“You read about Star Destroyer layouts for fun?”

“No, I wrote about Star Destroyers for a ship design class,” Jess said quietly as she continued to walk the room and tap on the walls. “The Empire didn’t want doors opening in the middle of important meetings, so they had a series of tunnels installed for service droids to move about the ship to deliver food or whatever rather than use the primary corridors and risk leaking sensitive information. It was a privacy protocol.”

“It’s a good solution, I guess.”

Jess smirked. “I argued in my assignment that it was stupid—an internal system of passages without security protocols was begging for infiltration.”

Niv smiled. “You argued that you could disappear into the ship’s walls.”

“Like a ghost in a machine, exactly.”

“And the access point is what you’re looking for so we can do just that.”

“You catch on quick, Lek,” Jess grinned. The wall under her hand echoed dully. “Found it. Now to get it open.”

“Move.” Niv knelt and popped off a service plate. He pulled his multitool out of his pocket and dislodged two wires and gingerly touched the wires together. They sparked and the panel slid open. “Cover that sensor,” Niv indicated to the automatic sensor on the other side of the door. Jess moved her hand to break the signal between the readers. Niv replaced the wires and the plate. “Let’s go.”

The two pilots crawled into the narrow service passage. The panel door slid closed behind them.

“Now what?” Niv asked.

Jess pointed at a red light next to the service door. “Looks like this indicates whether or not the room is occupied.”

“On a skeleton crew, the only rooms that will be occupied are necessary for operations.”

“And that gets us to an online computer,” Jess agreed. “Come on. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover,” she said and began crawling down the corridor.

The pair crawled through the twists and turns of the droid hallway, climbing up and down the droid lifts via makeshift handholds and steps when the service path had been altered to avoid the main corridors.

“How long have we been down here?” Jess asked.

“About two hours, I think.”

“My knees agree with that. Think they’re still looking for us?”

“Definitely.”

Jess laughed softly. “It’s nice to be wanted.”

“Isn’t it a bit strange to you that we haven’t found an occupied room yet?” 

“I mean, we know it’s minimally staffed. How many people do you think a Star Destroyer holds?” Jess asked.

“You don’t know that from studying them?”

“I studied design features, not occupancy.”

“Fair enough. Um…I’d guess 15,000 give or take,” Niv answered.

“Seems reasonable. So if most ships can maintain minimal operations on 10% staffing levels, we’re talking about…1,500 Troopers?” Jess figured.

“Maybe,” Niv said as he continued to crawl down the pathway. “Hey, hey, hey!” Niv said. “This one is green.”

“Green is good.”

“Where do you think we are?”

“No clue. Hopefully an office or something. We should still be on the Command floor. We didn’t deviate off this floor I don’t think,” Jess looked around for any sort of marking to tell them what was on the other side of the door.

“Well, hopefully they’re not expecting us.”

“I’m ready if you are.”

Niv nodded. “I’ll clear, you go for the door and secure it.”

Jess nodded sharply. Niv drew his blaster and broke the sensor line. The door slid open and Niv exited and fired.

Niv fired off four shots, clearing the room of enemy combatants as Jess sprinted to the door and hit the panel to code-seal it.

“Jess,” Niv whispered.

“Yeah?” Jess said, still messing with the door panel.

“Turn around.”

“What?” Jess asked as she turned. “Oh stars…” the words died on her lips. “Are we?”

“Yeah. We’re on the bridge of a Star Destroyer,” Niv said, his voice both excited and terrified. “This is…” his eyes scanned over the consoles. He stepped forward and leaned over one of them.

“Huge?” Jess offered. “Wild? Unexpected? Terrifying? Kriffing insane?”

“Unreal. And complicated,” Niv corrected; his hands roamed over the controls.

“You sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Corulag was a tech center for the Empire. My grandmother was an expert slicer. The Empire coerced her into being on the team that helped write the code for their fleet,” Niv said as he clicked through the system. “This system is more familiar to me than anything in the NRDF.”

“You never told me that.”

“Yeah, well, telling people that your grandmother wrote code for the Death Star isn’t exactly respectable dinner conversation,” Niv replied. “And you aren’t without your secrets.”

“Fair.” Jess’s mind was racing. They were on the currently vacant bridge of a _Star Destroyer_. And really, how often did opportunities like this come around? Especially with someone who knew the computing systems as well as Niv?

“How long do you think it will take to find Poe?” she asked with a poor attempt at sounding casual.

“Why?” Niv asked and glanced sideways at Jess.

“Well…I was thinking that once we rescue our wayward pilot…we _are_ already here and you do know how to navigate the system…so maybe could destroy a Star Destroyer,” she smiled mischievously. “You know...if we happen to have the time.”

“What?”

“Let’s take this out of the sky. We’re above Känu III…it’s a gas giant with no lifeforms and the atmospheric pressure would crush this ship like a can. Think about it, Niv…we could crash this ship. Take it out of play.”

“That’s not our mission.”

“Technically speaking, we’re not even _on_ a mission. Command has no clue that we’re here or what we’re doing,” she reminded him with a grin. “Come _on,_ Niv! Think about it. We could take out a _Star Destroyer._ Who else has done that?” 

“What about Dameron?”

“Who says we can’t get Poe and do some damage to the First Order while we’re at it?” She leaned down so her face is near his. “Think like…an auto-destruct with a countdown. Think you can do it?” 

“I think you watch too many Rebellion holofilms.”

Jess’s grin widened. “Possibly. Doesn’t change the question though. Can you do it?”

Niv sighed. “Probably. Maybe.” He looked at Jess, who was grinning wildly at him. He groaned dramatically: he’d never been able to tell Jess ‘no.’ He looked back to the console. “Fine. I’ll try. Give me some room.” Niv began scrolling through the computer’s menu.

“Sure thing,” Jess stepped back to let Niv work.

“It will honestly depend on how much customization and set up they’ve done and—oh, hello there,” Niv said as a new window opened.

“Good news?”

“Very. We knew it was minimally staffed, but the Destroyer isn’t fully online yet, so only a few floors are being utilized,” he tapped a command into the console and the screen lit up. Niv grinned. “And they’re cocky—haven’t set any passwords on their systems yet.” He looked up at Jess with a roguish smirk. “We can do it. We can take it down.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah,” Niv grinned. Blaster fire exploded from the hallway. Both turned sharply to look at the door.

“What do you need me to do?” Jess looked back at Niv.

“I need time. As much time as you can give me.”

“How much time are we talking?”

“Hour. Maybe more like two.”

Jess grinned mischievously. “I can do that.”

“And I need you to go to Engineering and do some damage for me.”

“What kind of damage?”

“Did you bring that disruptor with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Excellent.” Niv turned his attention back to the console and pulled up a map. He indicated a room on a floor in red. “Engineering’s down here. You’ll first have to turn off the reserve power relays so it doesn’t try to reboot itself. Then you’ll need to disable auto-recovery so the ship can’t try to repair whatever I do. Next, sever the conduits between the hyperdrive and the main engine. After you do that, you’ll be able to use the disruptor on the engine to short the whole thing out. Get it entirely offline. You have to sever the conduits before you use it, though, otherwise, you’ll cause a chain reaction and blow yourself up.”

“Got it.”

“You know what you’re looking for and how to sever conduits?” Niv asked.

“Yeah. I know.”

The screen zoomed in to give a layout of Engineering with three blinking dots on it. “This is where you’ll find the consoles in Engineering.”

“Ok,” Jess nodded.

“Remember: turn off power relays, disable auto-recovery, sever the conduits, use the disruptor. In that order.”

“Yeah. Blowing myself up is bad. I got it, Niv.”

“Jess—"

Another burst of blaster fire came from the hallway. Jess looked at the door again before taking one last look at the map to commit it to memory. “I promise, I’ll take care of it. You do what you need to so we can get this thing to go down. Give yourself enough time to find where they’re keeping Poe. I’ll distract Hux and his Troopers and catch up with you in a bit.” She pulled three flashbangs and the EMP Charge from her bag and handed them to Niv. She gripped his hand and met his eyes. “Secure the door behind me. And take care of yourself.”

“Wait! Jess—”

“Disable the Star Destroyer. Find Poe,” Jess ordered as she ran to the door. “Ping his location to my ‘pad when you find him and I’ll join you after I take care of Hux!”

“What if you get into trouble?”

Jess threw a cheeky grin over her shoulder. “I’m only in trouble if I get caught.”

“I’m serious, Jess.”

Jess stopped by the door and turned to face Niv. “So am I. If I don’t show up in two and a half hours, get Poe out of here, and leave without me.” She instructed solemnly. “Stay safe. Secure the door.” Before Niv could respond, Jess activated the door and ran out.

“No! I’m not gonna—" Niv shouted behind her, but the door slid shut again and cut Niv off.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Jess waited until she heard Niv lock the door before she crept down the corridor. She paused for a moment to listen for the impending pursuers: their footsteps echoed off the walls, coming towards her. She ran down the hall, away from the footsteps and the bridge. Niv needed every second she could buy him. She pulled a thermal detonator from her bag and primed it. After she turned a corner, she rolled the detonator down the all in the direction she’d been going and then counted down from six, waiting for the explosion.

The blast of sound and heat hit Jess like a wall.

“That way!” a Stormtrooper shouted.

“Geniuses, the lot of them,” Jess muttered and ran down the hall. She skidded around a corner and ducked into an alcove. She pulled her blaster from her waistband and waited.

A large group of Stormtroopers appeared at the junction of the hall she’d just turned down. They split into two teams: half continued down the first hallway towards the explosion and the other half turned down the same hallway as Jess. As soon as the Stormtroopers and Armitage Hux were in range, she fired. It was a bad shot and she knew it, but it would certainly get their attention. The Stormtroopers returned fire and took up the pursuit.

Jess grinned. Her comm hadn’t chirped yet with Niv telling her that they were trying to get in, so Jess was confident she’d drawn them all way from the door to the bridge. _So far, so good._ Now she had to get away from the Stormtroopers and make her way to Engineering. She glanced over her shoulder and fired at one of the pursuing Stormtroopers and hit him in the leg. The Trooper fell and Hux stooped to pick up the discarded blaster, but left the injured Trooper behind. _Typical First Order,_ Jess thought as she rounded a corner.

To her right, she saw another access ladder panel hatch. She wrenched it open and climbed into the maintenance tube. She pulled out a flashbang and threw it out of the hatch before closing the panel. The concussive noise was almost deafening in the tube, but Jess kept moving. By the time Hux and his soldiers were coherent enough to open the hatch and look down, Jess was already down four floors.

“After her!” he ordered one of the Troopers. “The rest of you, take the turbolifts! Two Troopers on each floor—I want her found alive!”

Jess watched as the Trooper clumsily climbed into the tube. Jess smirked—no chance that someone that inept would catch her. Once he was on the ladder, though, Jess realized she was wrong. The Trooper moved quickly and efficiently down the ladder.

“Well kriff,” Jess hissed and continued down to the next hatch. She kicked it open and climbed out of the access tunnel. Once her feet were on the ground, she closed the panel and kicked the latch with her heel so it was jammed closed. Jess looked both directions before she turned to her left, away from the turbolifts. There weren’t any Stormtroopers on this floor yet, but she knew they were coming.

She had stopped to glance around a corner when it happened. A hiss from a door was the only warning Jess had before a blaster muzzle was pressed to her back.

“Freeze right there,” a familiar voice said.

Jess froze and slowly raised her hands. “Major Raffton.” 

The woman grabbed the scarf and pulled it off of Jess’s head and revealed her dark hair. “I thought so.”

Jess took a deep breath and reached for the armor she had buried deep inside herself. She turned sharply to face the blonde woman and gave her a wide and dangerous grin. “Good to see you again, too. I’d hoped we’d get the chance. I thought we had a…real connection down on Arkanis.” Jess looked at the Stormtrooper next to Raffton. “And you wanted me to meet your friend? Didn’t know we were at that level yet. Incredible. It is _so_ nice to meet you. What’s your name? How long have you known…” Jess looked back at Raffton. “What is your first name? Is it Major?”

“Turn back around.”

“Na. I’d rather not. Cause what kind of coward shoots someone in the back? You wouldn’t want to be a coward, would you?” Jess sneered. “Or can’t handle shooting someone while looking them in the eye, Major?”

“I knew I didn’t trust you when I met you on the planet’s surface. That you were a menace. Now I know my instincts were right. RT-2336, restrain her.”

“Belie that order, RT-2336,” Jess ordered and grinned. “She didn’t mean it. She’s a joker.” The trooper looked between the two women but didn’t move.

Raffton glowered at her. “Where is he?”

“Who?” Jess shot back, feigning ignorance.

“Don’t be coy, it doesn’t suit you,” Raffton replied. “Your partner from the ship.”

“Don’t know who you’re talking about,” Jess lied. She’d learned early on that her words and her attitude created the best shield she could give herself. And this kind of talk had been second nature for her for far longer than military respect had been. She knew who she was—was even more confident in who that person was after her time at the Academy and in the NRDF—so if she took refuge in the concealment and protection that the rough and tumble, devil-may-care racer persona provided her, she wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

“I’d give you the name we recorded, but we both know it’s a lie.”

“What an interesting point you bring up. The name I gave you was a lie. Are we all lying to each other? To ourselves? Do any of us really know who we are, Major Raffton?”

Raffton smiled. “I know who I’ll be when I am the one who captured you.”

“Oh man, are you gonna monologue? Because…damn, that just seems so…Empire, am I right?” she asked the Trooper before turning back to Raffton. “It’s vintage, sure, but not in a cool way. It makes you seem dated, even. I was under the impression this was the First Order—bigger and better and bad-er than the Empire.”

“Shut up.”

“Oh, but we’re just getting to know each other!” Jess grinned. “Come on. We could share childhood memories. I’m sure you’ve got some great ones.”

“You can’t talk your way out of this one,” Raffton glared.

“Wasn’t trying to. I have other ways of getting out of this. But before you make that call and I make my escape, can I ask—who does your tailoring? Because I have to tell you, it’s impeccable. I would love to get your person’s information. Cause you know my uniform just doesn’t ever feel like it fits right, you know? Would love to get it just as crisp as yours.”

“So you are NRDF. And you’re after the pilot.”

“Pilot? Why would I need a pilot if I’m NRDF?” Jess feigned concern. “Are you ok? I understand. Sometimes I get confused, too. Do you need to sit down?”

The officer sneered. “It’s creatures like you that have caused the fall of the New Republic.”

“Creatures?” Jess repeated.

“Near-humans. Diluting human superiority. One of the first things that the First Order will rectify when we overthrow the New Republic.”

“Wow. You’ve really bought into this whole xenophobic policy thing, haven’t you? Joined the club?” Jess angled her head. “You know, I read something somewhere that you might find interesting. They said that most humans are statistically likely to have some near-human DNA in their makeup. That there are very few truly ‘pure’ humans in the galaxy. Maybe that’s what you mean by ‘diluting’ human superiority. Hmm. What do you think about that, Major?”

“I am a pure human,” the Major spat.

“Of course you are. And I’m sure the First Order is just so proud of that, aren’t they?” Jess mocked. “But is your Stormtrooper?”

Raffton’s gaze flitted to the Stormtrooper and back to Jess. “Sowing doubt is not your strong suit.”

Jess shrugged. “Worth the try.”

“I know all about people like you. Rebels, you call yourself. Freedom fighters,” she scoffed. “I think ‘Terrorists’ is more like it.” 

“Wow. Still holding onto that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Your lot ruined my planet.”

“And there it is. You’re Arkanian, aren’t you? Did you go to the Arkanis Academy? Were you one of the Commandant’s Cadets?”

Raffton growled. “Give me a reason to pull this trigger.”

Jess smirked. “You won’t.”

“Try me.”

“I’ve given you plenty of reasons to pull that trigger. But your boss wants me alive. And so far, you let me get away on Arkanis and let me land on your Star Destroyer.”

“So?”

“You really think he’ll be willing to forgive a third infraction? Especially killing me when he wanted me found alive?” Jess clicked her tongue. “Seems unlikely.”

“I didn’t kill you,” Raffton smiled cruelly and leveled her blaster with Jess’s chest. “You ran and RT-2336 fired on you. What could I do? Now _run._ ”

A crackle from Raffton’s commlink drew the major’s attention. Jess took the opening and grabbed the other woman’s wrist and wrenched it to the side. The blaster fired twice and hit RT-2336’s shoulder and wrist and caused the Trooper to drop his blaster. Jess shoved Raffton against the wall and pinned the woman with her forearm across the major’s neck and her other hand still holding her wrist. Jess hit the woman’s blaster hand against the wall until she released the blaster. Jess kicked the blaster away just as Raffton reared her head back and headbutted Jess in the face. Jess released her hold on the Major and brought her hand to her face. Raffton took off down the hallway after her blaster.

“Freeze!” the Trooper shouted. He had picked up his blaster and was holding it in his uninjured hand. Raffton slid on her knees to her blaster and scrambled to turn around so she had Jess in her sights.

Jess reached behind her back and grabbed the first handle her fingers found. She whipped it out, aimed at the Trooper, and pulled the trigger. It wasn’t until the blast came out yellow instead of red that Jess realized she had grabbed the disruptor, not her blaster. RT-2336 let out half a scream before he disintegrated. 

Jess and Raffton both stared, frozen, as bits of plastoid armor and microparticles of ash fell to the floor.

“Oh shit,” Jess whispered. Raffton scrambled to her feet and ran around a corner, away from Jess. Jess let her go—she would worry about the major later.

The pile of light grey ash was stark against the pristine black floor. The sight of it unsettled Jess. Death itself wasn’t something that Jess was unfamiliar with, Dandoran was a pretty rough place to grow up—if the climate didn’t kill you, the people would. But usually, when someone died, there was at least a body left. Usually, there was evidence that someone had been there—that a life had ended. But not this time.

Religion had never interested Jess much: somewhere between her childhood as a slave and her present job as a starfighter pilot, she’d concluded that believing in some omnipotent and benevolent higher power was ridiculous. But she did believe in the goodness of the Universe. Poe had once told her that it sounded to him like she believed in the Force, but she didn’t think that was exactly it. It was more of that she refused to believe that pain existed without purpose, but how that Trooper had died contradicted that belief.

It wasn’t that Jess hadn’t killed before: she had, but usually from a distance and in her cockpit. Killing to such devastating effect up close was new to Jess, and she felt like she needed to do something to recognize the Trooper’s death. She remembered an old tradition from Dandoran that her father used to do whenever someone died. It seemed like it might be the right thing to do. Jess awkwardly knelt next to the remains of the Trooper and brought her fist to her forehead. “Tilbake til stjernestov,” she whispered and brought her hand down to touch the forehead of the Trooper, only to be reminded that there was no body left. Jess’s hand hovered above the remains before she pulled her hand back and looked away, the moment gone.

A clatter of Stormtrooper armor drew Jess’s attention. She grabbed her scarf from the floor and ran down the hall. She slid to a stop when she saw the turbolift doors open and four Stormtroopers exit. “Ok, wrong way.”

“There!” one of the Troopers pointed. All four raised their blasters and fired at Jess.

Jess ran back in the other direction. She hit the closest door panel and was grateful when it slid open. She pulled out a flashbang and threw it over her shoulder before she ducked into the room and closed the door.

Jess looked around: she was in an empty barracks. She frowned—she’d been in plenty of barracks before, but none had ever seemed this barren. It was cold and distant. Almost inhumane. _Is this how they treat their Troopers?_ The implications of that made Jess’s stomach clench, but she didn’t have time to think about it. She waited until the clatter of armor passed the door before she slipped out.

The hallway was empty when Jess stepped back out. She looked both ways before doubling back the way she’d come, looking for another access ladder. Eventually, she found one and popped the panel open, eased herself in, and closed the hatch behind her.

She had gone down two flights when the panel she’d entered through opened and a Stormtrooper helmet popped through.

“She’s down here!” the Trooper called.

Above her, Jess could hear the bulky armor of the Stormtrooper bumping against the sides of the tube. She looked down: the ladder only went down about 30 more meters. Jess continued her descent until she reached the bottom of the ladder. She kicked open the access panel and stepped out onto the deck.

Once she was out, she closed and locked the panel and crept down the corridor, testing door after door until she found one that was unlocked. She slipped inside and found herself in Uniform Storage. She found a navy Engineering coverall and pulled it on over her clothes and then moved her weapons to the cargo pockets on the legs. The maroon scarf was removed and shoved into her satchel. She shook out her braid so her hair obscured part of her face and tattoos. She was pretty sure that messy hair was not a part of the First Order look, but hoped that hiding her face would buy her a few crucial seconds.

Jess stepped back out of laundry storage and glanced at her chrono. She’d left Niv over an hour ago, which meant she had a little more than an hour to sabotage the Engine Room and make it to the Detention Block.

A group of Stormtroopers rounded the corner in front of her. Jess tucked her chin and let her hair fall in front of her face. The Troopers ran past her and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Wait! You there!” One of the Troopers shouted.

“Knew it was too good to be true,” Jess muttered. She took out a smoke bomb and threw it so it smashed it at the Stormtrooper’s feet and filled the air with a dark haze. She ran in the opposite direction while the Troopers tried to get themselves clear of the smoke. She found another ladder access point and opened the hatch. When she was sure it was clear of Troopers, she started to climb.

A few floors up, she opened the hatch and threw out a flashbang before she kept climbing. Another four floors passed and she threw a primed thermal detonator out of the hatch. She continued up the ladder, throwing flashbangs and detonators out at random.

She was almost to the top of the ladder when the now-familiar sound of plastoid armor reached her ears. She reached into her satchel, but found she only had one flashbang left. A moment passed before Jess decided to leave it in the bag, just in case she needed it when rescuing Dameron. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out one of her remaining smoke bombs. She took careful aim and threw it down the access ladder so that it hit the wall and exploded into black smoke two meters above the pursuing Stormtroopers. She pushed herself to climb faster to escape the smoke.

By the time she reached the top of the ladder, her arms were shaking from exhaustion. She opened the hatch and let herself drop onto the floor. She took a deep breath and tried to will her arms to work again.

The sound of footsteps reached Jess’s ears. She lifted her head to see a team of seven Stormtroopers round the corner. They saw her and raised their blasters.

“Yeah, that’s about how today’s gone,” she muttered and pushed herself to her feet. She took out her last smoke bomb and threw it at their feet. In the confusion, she took out her garrote and razor discs and waited.

Once the smoke had cleared enough for her to see the white forms of the Troopers, she sprang into motion. She threw the razor disks, aiming for the weak point of the armor below the bottom rear plate and the calf plate. She took three troopers down, but the other four disks missed their mark. She launched off the wall and wrapped the garrote around the neck of one of the remaining Troopers. She pushed him in front of her to absorb the shots fired by his comrades. Jess drew her blaster and dropped her human shield and fired three quick shots, killing the remaining Troopers.

She sighed and slumped to her knees to catch her breath.

“Hands on your head,” a shaky voice said from behind her. Jess turned her head a fraction to see who was speaking: it was one of the Troopers who she had taken down with a razor disc. The Trooper was balanced carefully on her uninjured leg, but Jess could see the amount of blood running down the white armor: there was too much of it. She wouldn’t be alive much longer. She might, however, be alive long enough to put a blaster bolt in Jess’s head.

Jess put her blaster on the ground and brushed her hand against her boot to grab her knife as she brought her hand up to her head. When she had almost reached her head, she turned sharply and jabbed the boot knife into the weak point of the armor at the knee on the Trooper’s good leg. The Stormtrooper cried out in pain and collapsed as Jess leapt to her feet and kicked the blaster away from the Trooper.

Jess looked down sadly at the dying Stormtrooper. “I’m…sorry,” she said lamely. She wasn’t sure why she’d even said anything.

“Scum,” the woman hissed before her head dropped to the floor.

“Tilbake til stjernestov,” Jess said and sighed before she ran down the hall to the turbolift. She pulled out her newly acquired Data Scrambler and fired a blast at the camera before she pressed the button that would bring her down to Engineering. She took a deep breath and sunk to the floor, appreciating the moment of rest. Her chrono vibrated: she had forty-five minutes left.

The turbolift stopped and Jess prepared herself to fight. When the doors opened, though, the hallway was empty. She ran down the hall, hitting door panel after door panel. Finally, one opened and she ducked herself inside. She was breathing hard as she took in her surroundings. A small smile crept onto her face: she’d found Engineering.

“Thank the Universe,” she whispered. Typically, the Engine Room would be fully staffed with engineers monitoring every station and process, but not right now. Right now, the _Revenant_ was too new to have a full staff, and since they were essentially still in port, Engineering was empty. It was huge and dimly lit with dark alcoves, narrow passages, and high vantage points. It was noisy and loud and had an echo that would distort a sound’s origin. Not only was it where she could sabotage the engine, but it was also a perfect place to hide.

From the other side of the door, she heard running feet. She knew it was only a matter of time before Hux would see the security cam footage and figure out where she’d gone. Data Scramblers could only cover so many sins. She knew he was onto her and that for her to succeed in her sabotage, she needed to disappear.

She took a deep breath: _turn off power relays, disable auto-recovery, sever the conduits, use the disruptor, in that order,_ she reminded herself. Hux didn’t matter—he _couldn’t_ matter. Not now.

Not when she had work to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Tilbake til stjernestov.” Google Translate says this is Norwegian for “Return to Stardust.” I do not speak Norwegian, so I am trusting the Google. I chose Norwegian because I imagine Dandoran culture to be a little pirate/Viking-ish and I needed a language, so it made sense.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Hux opened the door and stepped into Engineering. He smirked as the door hissed closed behind him—he knew the intruder was in Engineering with him and he had stationed a Stormtrooper to stand guard at the only way in or out. There was nowhere else for the Republic pilot to go: he had her trapped.

“I know that you’re in here,” he called out. “There’s nowhere for you to run. This is the end of the line.” He walked down the stairs to the landing. There were three primary pathways through Engineering: to the left, to the right, or straight ahead. Hux chose left. 

Jess hid under the staircase, just below the main entrance. Not her best hiding place, she knew, but Hux would have had to turn around as soon as he’d entered the Engine Room to spot her. Even if he turned around now, he’d already walked far enough down the steel walkway to have his line of sight obscured. “You invited me here, didn’t you? Or was that someone else who invited me to see their ship? I get so many invitations that it’s hard to keep track. But either way, thanks for the chance to explore it. It was a little quick for my taste, but I’m not complaining. I gotta say, though, your Destroyer seems a little, I dunno, empty,” Jess called, hoping to provoke Hux. She let the familiar armor cover her as she had with Raffton. Jess would be damned if she let Hux see the real her. With her Racer Persona, she was protected. She could take anything.

“Do you like it? It’s new.” Hux tried to locate her. He still had the fallen Stormtrooper’s blaster clenched tightly in both hands—clearly inexperienced with the weapon. “Currently, we are operating with minimal staff levels. A few hundred give or take, just to keep the lights on, you know. My troops are set to arrive next week. Nearly 40,000 of them. Would you care to stay and meet them?”

Jess bit her lip. _40,000 troops?_ That was more than twice what she and Niv had guessed. And that was just for one destroyer. She swallowed thickly: the First Order was bigger than any of them had ever imagined. “I thought you’d need at least a few thousand to keep this boat in the sky. How’d you manage to whittle that down to the hundreds?”

“As you can see, we’re not going anywhere quite yet. But why would I tell secrets and specifics to an enemy? Come out and meet me. Maybe I’ll share something.”

“Na, my team and I have other places to be. Appreciate the offer, though,” Jess replied.

“Your team?” Hux questioned. “How many came with you?”

Jess began to creep along the rightmost walkway, opposite of Hux. “You don’t wanna share your secrets with me, so I’m not gonna share mine with you. Enough, though,” she replied. She could see the reserve power relays just down the catwalk on the left and began slowly moving towards them.

“You’re alone, aren’t you?” Hux’s lips curled into a jeering smile. “The NRDF didn’t care enough about their missing Golden Boy to send more than a single pilot?”

“Missing Golden Boy? Who are you talking about?” Jess asked innocently.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know that Poe Dameron is my prisoner. Surely the NRDF knows he’s missing by now.”

_This man is an incompetent idiot,_ Jess thought, _no one tells you they have a high-value prisoner. That’s holovid shit._ “Oh, that’s where he’s been? Tell him hi for me,” she called.

“Don’t be cute. I know you’re here for him. Did the NRDF even send you? Or did you disobey orders to come after him?” Hux barked a laugh. “And why would you do something like that? For love? What kind of idiotic fool risks their life on such a pointless quest?” he mocked.

“Fine. Yeah. I’m here for him. As for your other question: this kind of idiotic fool, I suppose. He’s my friend. So in a way, yeah, I did it for love.” Jess answered from behind an enormous set of couplings. Her hands flew across the reserve power relay bank, systematically shutting it down. The lights at the top of the bank turned from green to orange and then off entirely. She waited until heard the internal fan slow to a stop before she moved on. “But I suppose you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Armitage?”

Jess slid into a dark alcove and held her breath as she considered her next move. Their original plan had been shot to hell within minutes of setting foot on the Star Destroyer. Thank the Force it wasn’t fully staffed or they wouldn’t have even gotten that far. And now their new plan was, even by her admittedly fairly loose standards, absolutely insane. Jess had known when she left Niv on the bridge that it was unlikely that she would see him or Poe again. She didn’t tell Niv, but she knew she was likely to die here. She just hoped that her friends would survive.

She stopped herself from going farther down that line of thought. She couldn’t go there and she knew it. Until she got to the detention block— _ **if**_ _she got to the detention block,_ her mind helpfully added _—_ she would have no idea if Niv was all right. She couldn’t be distracted by questions of if Niv had managed to find Poe or if he’d been able to sabotage the Star Destroyer. She couldn’t consider how much time they would need to escape if he had been successful in setting up an auto-destruct sequence. And Poe…she really couldn’t think about him right now. Distractions would make her death a certainty, not just a possibility. She hoped they were both still alive. She hoped that Niv had finished crashing the system and had found Poe and that they were together. And she hoped that she could get back to the hanger and escape with them.

But she couldn’t think about them now.

Right now, her own escape didn’t matter—she still had to disable the auto-recovery system and get the hyperdrive disconnected from the main engine system for Niv’s sabotage to work. To give her friends even a _chance_ to survive. Plus, she had lured Hux down into the core of Engineering and had the opportunity to take him out, which would be a serious blow to the First Order. In that instant, she made a decision: she would take out the systems for Niv and would make sure that Hux wouldn’t be leaving this ship alive. Even if it meant that she didn’t leave either. For both of these things to happen, though, Hux could not know where she was until it was too late for him to stop her. She steeled herself to Hux’s words— _Whatever he throws at me, I’ve been called worse,_ she reminded herself and began to move through Engineering.

“So you did your homework and you know my name. Maybe even did some research on my past as well. Good for you,” he mocked. “It doesn’t matter. It won’t be long now until I know exactly who you are, too, little pilot,” Hux called.

Jess could hear Hux moving down the walkway, no doubt trying to clear every nook and cranny he could. It wouldn’t matter, though, because Jess knew she had the advantage—she had spent years working on ships of all makes and models. The size of the ship didn’t matter: she knew what was inert, what would explode, and where would be safe to hide. Plus, she knew what she was after. Hux wouldn’t know where to even begin to look for her.

“Despite the efforts of the Resistance, I still have many sources on the inside of the New Republic: Senators. Aides. Security and ground forces. Even some in your precious NRDF. Any minute now, one of them will send me a message with the names of any missing pilots and then I’ll have all the information I need about you,” Hux drawled.

“Who the hell do you have in your pocket?” Jess whispered, too soft for Hux to hear. She moved out of the alcove she had been hiding in and dropped to the ground to make her way to the auto-recovery terminal. She crawled under the walkways, grateful that her dark coverall blended in with the shadows and hid her from Hux’s view. Jess moved silently along the ground until she was behind Hux and then pulled herself up onto the walkway and slid behind a large converter.

Hux’s datapad pinged. The sound echoed through the large room. “There we go. Let’s see who you are, hmm?” Hux said in a mocking, sing-song tone. “Lieutenant Jessika Pava,” he read aloud. “Well, you’re a scrap of a thing, aren’t you? Little more than a child yourself.” Hux paused. Jess could see him through a tiny gap between the machinery—he was reading. 

_What file did he get?_ Jess wondered before she turned her attention back to disabling the auto-recovery station. She grinned as she uninstalled software from the unit and deleted lines of code. If she and Niv somehow didn’t manage to crash the ship, it would take the First Order days of going through the code line by line to figure out why the auto-recovery wasn’t working. She initiand the shutdown of the system and once it was off, disconnected it from the mainframe and its power source, rendering it useless.

“Hmm, I already know about you,” he taunted. Jess held perfectly still. “You’re the poor little Dandoran Slave Girl. Stolen from her parents at a tender young age and sold into a life of servitude to some no-name thugs and want-to-be racers on the outer rim. Traded from master to master like nothing more than a spare droid part. That should have been the end of your story. But no, you had to become a racer yourself and catch the eye of a Rebel veteran who made that pesky past disappear and propped you up as a poster child for second chances in the New Republic Navy.”

Jess could hear the disdain dripping from his voice as he laid out all he knew about her life. _Ok, m_ _aybe not quite as incompetent as I thought,_ she thought, _how did he find out all of this?_

Hux continued his taunting. “You just had to become some hero for the poor and disenfranchised. For the weak.”

“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy,” Jess shot back, her voice far steadier than she expected it to be.

Hux whipped around, his blaster raised. “So you are still listening,” he sneered. “Come out, little Rebel.”

Jess’s brain raced. She needed to get to the hyperdrive, but it was housed on the far wall. To get to it, she would have to get past Hux. She needed the upper hand, needed to keep him on edge. She needed him to keep talking and making mistakes. Her conversation with Jas Emari and the rumors she had shared about Armitage Hux rose to the top of her mind. _Perfect_ , she thought.

“I’m no Rebel. You have my file, you should know that. I’m a Lieutenant in the New Republic Navy. I took an oath to protect the Republic from threats both domestic and abroad. And you…” she scoffed, “You’re no threat. You’re a coward,” Jess replied as she left the now disabled auto-recovery system and the relative safety and cover of the converter panel behind. She kept key engine components between herself and Hux as she worked her way across the room.

“A coward?” he scoffed. “Could a coward build all of this under the New Republic’s nose? Would a coward be able to amass legions of soldiers, all for the glorious arrival of the First Order? Would a coward manage to capture Poe Dameron: Rising Star of the Defense Fleet?” his anger was bleeding into his words. 

_Gotcha,_ Jess thought.

“No,” Hux continued, “A coward couldn’t do all that.”

“Na, you’re right,” Jess replied, a vicious grin on her face. “A coward wouldn’t do all that. A _boy_ who’s compensating for something might, though. Have something to prove, Hux? After all, you’re just the bastard son of a disgraced Imp, vying for Daddy’s attention.”

“Why you little mongrel,” Hux shouted and fired his blaster at Jess. He was wide by over ten meters.

Jess grinned. She had figured Hux out—he was prideful, arrogant, angry, and volatile. And Jas was right: he didn’t know how to keep his mouth closed. _This will work,_ she thought to herself, _keep him angry, keep him talking, keep him distracted and you can get to the hyperdrive._ “Maybe should have spent more time in the practice range and less chasing after your father’s approval when you knew you’d never measure up to his standards.” Jess goaded as she moved across the engine room. “Tell me, did it feel good when you killed him? Did you finally get the attention you craved after you took his life?”

Hux let out a roar and fired again. _Still far too wide,_ Jess thought to herself.

“Is that the best you’ve got? I’ve seen children with better aim than you,” she shouted. “Looks like the First Order isn’t much of a real contender for galactic supremacy after all. With all of your preening and pontificating, I expected more power. But it’s all just a front, isn’t it? At least it is for you: just a sad little boy whose daddy didn’t love him enough.”

Hux fired three more shots, all too high and too wide to be a threat.

“What I don’t get,” Jess continued as she crept down the walkway, “is why you kept his name. Hux. Is it because of the Empire? Cause it’s kind of an awful name. Surely your mother had a better name, right? But you like to pretend she doesn’t exist, don’t you? Instead, you kept the name of the man who abused you for years. Or maybe you don’t even know your real mother—just that you’re Brendol’s bastard. Damn, I know some psytechs who would _love_ to get a peek inside your head. Mommy _and_ daddy issues. And a megalomaniac the likes of whom hasn’t been seen since the Empire. Whoo! They’d have a _field day_ with you.”

“Talk all you want. You will die here, Jessika Pava,” Hux’s voice shuttered with anger. “You will lose your life for no reason. And with no one to mourn you. Your death will be so inconsequential in the history of the galaxy, it won’t even warrant a footnote.”

“The galaxy is a big place and people die every day.” Jess skirted around Hux’s position. She was finally on the same side of the room as the hyperdrive. “Whether or not Galactic history deems them footnote worthy is irrelevant. They all matter.”

“Even slaves like you?”

“Not a slave anymore,” she replied easily. She was so close to the hyperdrive she could see the dim glow of the screen. 

“We both know that once you’re a slave, it never really leaves you.” Hux moved further into the engine room and farther away from Jess. “You never forget that you’re worthless. Disposable. Insignificant.”

“Sounds like you’re projecting to me, Hux.” She reached the hyperdrive panel and initiated shut-down procedures. A part of her wished she had time to really dig into their systems, not just destroy them—she’d never seen a hyperdrive this large. Now, though, was not the time. She looked over the conduits and determined which ones she needed to pull to separate the hyperdrive from the main engine. Silently, she completed the disconnection process. While the system finished its shut down procedures, she began to search for a vantage point from which she could take Hux out, but such a vantage point was proving to be more elusive than she had anticipated.

Her gaze swept up the closest engine block—one of the highest points in the room and positioned between the central and right walkways. A perfect position to take a shot. The combination of her coverall and the engine block casing _should_ be thick enough to keep her from getting burned as she climbed up—she hoped. Impatiently, she waited for the hyperdrive to finish shutting down. Once she was sure that it wouldn’t come back online, Jess darted to access ladder on the engine block.

“Do your pilot friends know who you truly are? Know your past? Your value? Does Poe Dameron? Does he know that you’re just some common slave girl playing dress-up as a Republic Pilot?” He continued as if he hadn’t heard her. Then he went quiet for a long moment. Jess was halfway up the block and could no longer see the red-haired general. “But you’re actually quite good, aren’t you?” The tone of Hux’s voice had changed. It was inviting—tempting, even. “Not in the moral sense, oh no. How could you be, with a past as messy as yours?” he jabbed. “But…you’re a good pilot. A good soldier. One of the best, it would seem.” He paused. “But so underutilized, it should be a crime. Because you can follow difficult orders, and you can kill without hesitation. The NRDF doesn’t want that, though, do they? They just want some poster child to smile for the holoimages and show how much _good_ the Fleet does.”

Jess didn’t respond. Her arms ached as she neared the top of the engine block and she felt dangerously exposed with nothing blocking her from an incoming blaster bolt. Hux had his back to her for now, but would have a clean shot if he turned around. Jess gritted her teeth and continued her silent climb.

“We’re not so different, you and I. Both abused as children, both thought of as pathetic, useless. But we’ve shown them, haven’t we, Lieutenant Pava?” Hux paused. “You haven’t asked—don’t you want to know how I already knew you?” he waited. “No? Hmm. A pity you’re so stubborn. The First Order has had its eye on you for a long time. A reckless and dangerous pilot who has nothing to lose and no reason to stay loyal to the New Republic. The First Order could _use_ a pilot like you,” Hux grinned. “I’m always on the lookout for talent—for people who rise above expectations and circumstances and who could serve the cause of the First Order. You, surprisingly enough, fit that bill and caught my attention years ago. While you were still a slave, even. It’s a pity I didn’t get to you sooner—before Antilles. But it’s not too late to join us. Think about it: with your skill, you could be an Admiral within a matter of years. Get rid of the pesky bureaucracy that ties your hands at every turn and the black and white morals of the Navy. You know it’s all grey. You’ve craved stability since you lost your family—and the First Order can give that to you. And power. Power beyond anything you can imagine, Jessika Pava. Join us.”

Jess had finally reached the top of the block. She crawled on her stomach to the edge and peeked over just enough to see where Hux stood. Hux’s words passed over her, all but ignored, as she focused solely on finding her shot. She could see the redheaded general from her perch, methodically moving down the walkway, sweeping his blaster from left to right—still hunting her.

“A pilot like yourself can recognize the beauty of a ship, no?” Hux asked, trying to get a response so he could assess her location. “Think about it—a TIE Fighter of your own. I’d give it to you—it wouldn’t be like the Republic property that someone _allows you_ to use, but yours. So much more elegant and quick and deadly than anything in the New Republic fleet. We could customize it, too, just for you: to your exact specifications.”

Jess grit her teeth and looked down the sights on her blaster, searching for a clean shot. The shot had to be perfect—any variance and she could hit an engine component and set off a chain reaction, which would not only kill Hux and herself, but everyone on board. _Well,_ she amended, _it would kill them before the self-destruct sequence does. Before Niv and I get Poe and get away._ She finally found her shot: in range, clear line of sight, minimal chance of ricochet, and surrounded by the more minor engine components that wouldn’t blow up. At least, components that wouldn’t blow up too easily. Now, she just needed to get Hux to that spot. She glanced up, her eyes scanning for the tall figure.

“We have resources, you know,” Hux continued. “And I know what you want more than anything else in the world.”

“Doubt that,” Jess whispered to herself. Hux was still out of range. She needed him to come closer.

“You want to know what happened to them. And what a question that is: whatever _did_ happen to the rest of the Pava family?” Hux asked, his tone calculating. Jess froze with every nerve on edge. It took a moment for her to remember how to breathe. “Your mother. Your father. Your sister. We could find them, you know,” Hux continued. “Join me and we’ll find your family. Free them, if they’re still alive. And with your continued loyalty, I would even be willing to set them up nicely—a life of leisure and peace, away from bondage or hardship. And brought to them by the rule of the First Order. But if they’re not alive—well, at least you’ll have the answers you crave. Perhaps even graves to mourn at. Has the New Republic made you such an offer?” He waited. “I didn’t think so. Think about it, Pava. Your father the mechanic—can he still use his hands, or have they been taken from him as a punishment for his stubborn pride? What about your mother the healer—do you think she still cares for others or has her heart been hardened by torture and neglect? And your sister…she was taken when she was too young to have done anything meaningful, but I bet she was your hero, wasn’t she? Where do you imagine her to be? Do you think that piloting is a family trait? Do you think that she’s like you: she got lucky and got out of slavery and is now off somewhere in a cockpit? Is she still the kind sister you remember? Still a hero? Or is it more likely that now she is nothing more than a hollowed-out plaything for a cruel master? We could find her. Save her. Save all of them—if you join me.”

Jess took a deep breath. _Maybe they could find her family—without the limits of the Republic…_ Jess thought for a moment before she shook her head sharply. _He’s lying. He can’t find them. My family is gone,_ she reminded herself. _Poe is part of your new family. And you can save him._ She closed her eyes and thought, _What would Poe do?_ _She paused._ _What WOULD Poe do?_ When she opened her eyes, she grinned thinly. “Good to see your source is no slouch when it comes to research, Armitage. So we both know about each other’s past. Big deal. But you want to help me save my family? And all I’d have to do is join the First Order, huh? That’s an interesting offer. What, are recruitment numbers down?” She drawled as she pulled every ounce of her racer persona and combined it with the voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Poe Dameron. “What I want to know, though, is what your dental plan is like. Because I gotta tell you, I have spectacular coverage with the New Republic. Galaxy wide. Is yours better? Oral hygiene is an important factor for me to consider when faced with defecting from the NRDF.” The height of her perch made her voice seem to come from all directions and disoriented Hux.

“Where are you?” Hux spat as he turned around sharply, looking for her.

“What about vacation time? Will you honor what I have accrued while in the Navy, or do I start at the bottom?” she asked. “Cause I’ve got a lot of hours logged and I’d _hate_ to lose them all. Maybe you can give me 50% of them? Seems like that could be a fair deal. What about room and board? Is that on me or on you? And do I have to live on a Star Destroyer or would I get an apartment like I do on base?”

Jess watched as Hux searched for her, blaster clutched shakily in his hands. She smirked: his rage was manifesting physically. He wouldn’t be able to shoot straight if his life depended on it.

“No answer? Oh, come on, now. I’m just starting to get excited. But if you can’t work with me, it looks like the NRDF might still be a better choice for me. But I am open to a counter-offer.”

Hux turned down a walkway to his right, the wrong direction from Jess’s engine block. She needed him to come towards her.

“Uh-uh. Wrong way, buddy.”

Hux stepped back onto the main walkway, eyes narrowed as he searched the shadows for the Republic pilot.

“There you go,” Jess praised mockingly. “And, really? You think a TIE is better than an X-Wing?” she continued, trying to draw him towards her. “Buddy, I’ll take shields and a hyperdrive over the supposed maneuverability of those flimsy little gnats any day of the week. Though it might be fun to fly around in one, just to get a feel for it. Think the First Order would make an exception and let me have an X-Wing instead? Or maybe both? I would be very ok having both.”

“I will find you and I will kill you, Pava!”

“So are you taking back your offer? Dang, I was just starting to consider it.”

“You are nothing! You will always be nothing. Just like your father.”

Jess’s retort caught in her throat. She felt like someone had just poured ice water over her body.

“Now that shut you up, didn’t it?” Hux mocked. “Oh yes. I wasn’t lying when I said we had resources. That file I received about you? It had so much more than your rank and your criminal history. So yes, I do know what happened to Nickolas Pava. A tragic story: unable to protect his family, forced to watch as they were sold into slavery, and then sold himself to a former Imperial. And he did lose one of his hands for his pride. That was true. Do you want to know something ironic? He died building this ship. It wasn’t that long ago, even. Less than a year. Just think—you were just a few hours on the Corellian Run from him for all these years. And you’re here now. Could you have written a better tragedy?” he threw her words back at her.

“You’re lying,” Jess retorted.

“Am I, though? What benefit does lying get me? You’re not about to join me either way, and the truth will only radicalize you further against the First Order, not the New Republic. Telling you, on the other hand…that will hurt you. And I am very much in favor of that. And as much as it scares you, the thought of knowing how he died…you have to know, don’t you? I know you need to know. Do you want me to tell you how he died?” he asked rhetorically. “There was a breach in the hull. He was sucked out into space where his blood boiled as the oxygen expanded in his cells. His last moments were agony.” Hux smirked. “I do hope you appreciate the symbiosis of all of this as much as I do: you spend your life, working in the black and that’s where your father died, and your father died building what will be his daughter’s tomb. Work and death. Death and work. So perfectly balanced.” 

Jess clenched her jaw and fought back tears. There was no doubt in her mind that he was telling the truth. She forced herself to regain control of her breathing. She could mourn later—right now, she had a mission. _Think of Poe. Think of Niv,_ she repeated as her mantra in her mind.

“So your entire new empire is built on the backs of slaves? Sounds like there’s no real money behind you,” Jess replied, surprised by how level her voice was. “Hux, I gotta say, you’re kinda showing your ass here.”

"The First Order will rise and will rule the galaxy!”

“Oh hey, and now we’ve reached the fanatical and fascist part of your speech. You know, the predictability of you Imperial wannabes is nice: lets me know how much longer this is going to be drawn out. And it’s good to know that even when everything else seems to be going wrong, you’re reliable in your methods,” Jess said, trusting her armor of words and attitude to keep her safe. “Threaten, bargain, monologue, threaten. They say consistency is key, you know.” 

“When I find you, Pava, you will wish you had never been born. I would have killed you quickly before, but now…now I’ll kill you slowly. Painfully.”

“You’ll have to catch me first.”

“I will.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that. You won’t catch me. At least, not until I want you to.” Jess dug in her satchel, looking for anything she could toss down onto the walkway to draw Hux’s attention. Her fingers wrapped around a stray credit. She gently tossed it onto the catwalk below her.

The sound of the credit landing on the walkway reverberated throughout the Engine Room. Hux whipped around, looking for the source of the noise. He ran up the walkway towards Jess’s hiding spot, swinging his head from side to side as he hunted for Jess. His mistake, though, was that he never looked up.

Jess counted the steps until he was in range.

“Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen,” she breathed to herself, her blaster leveled and aimed at the sweet spot she’d found. She focused on slowing her breathing as she kicked the safety off her blaster. “Nine, eight, seven,” she lined up her sights again and waited for Hux to cross them. “Three, two, one—”

But just before she pulled the trigger, Hux’s words ran through her head: _“But you’re actually good, aren’t you? Not in the moral sense, oh no. How could you be, with a past as messy as yours?”_

Jess made a split-second decision and fired, sending a bolt screaming through the air at Hux.

Hux heard the blaster fire. He glanced up and locked eyes with Jess for a fraction of a second before the bolt hit him. The shot struck home in his right shoulder and knocked him to the ground. He was still lying dazed on his back when Jess reached the bottom of the engine block ladder and approached him.

“You…” he stammered and pulled his upper body upright by leaning heavily against the handrail.

“Me,” Jess shrugged and smirked.

“You missed,” he hissed.

“No,” she shook her head. “I chose.” She leveled her blaster at his chest. “I want you to know,” she said, her voice low and even, “that you are only alive because I am allowing you to survive. That I am good—in both a literal and moral sense. You are alive because I _chose_ not to kill you. And I want you to remember that—every day. Forever. And I think you will. Scars are good for that.”

Hux’s face contorted in rage. “You should have killed me while you had the chance. I will never stop hunting you, Jessika Pava.”

“Then the next time we meet, one of us dies,” Jess replied. “Hope you step it up next time. Make it a challenge.” 

“The First Order will not—”

“Yeah, okay. So that’s enough of that,” Jess said and flipped her blaster to stun and shot Hux in the chest. The unconscious general slumped to the ground.

Jess walked over to the main engine block and fired the disruptor at the main input bank. The entire station glowed with a yellow light before every light went out: dead. Jess listened as the short worked its way through the rest of the engine: internal fans shut off and the hum of electricity faded away. Soon, the entire Engineering room was silent. _No explosions,_ she thought to herself. _At least I did this part right._

Jess looked at the disruptor in her hand and thought of the Trooper she had shot with it. Niv was right: these weapons were outlawed with good reason. She walked to the end of one of the sections of the catwalk and looked down the ventilation shaft. The weapon weighed heavy in her hand before she tossed it down the shaft. That Trooper wasn’t the first person she’d killed and certainly wouldn’t be the last, but how she’d killed him…that had the promise to be the stuff of nightmares.

Her datapad vibrated in her pocket with a message from Niv. She smirked: coordinates for the Detention Block. She pushed her datapad back into her pocket and sighed. There would be time for her to think about what she had done with that weapon later— _after_ they found Poe and got off of this Star Destroyer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy." is a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald. 
> 
> Jess facing off with Hux was really fun to write. Hope it was fun for you to read! :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Compared to Jess’s adventure getting to Engineering, getting to the Detention Block had been tame. The lone Stormtrooper guarding Engineering hadn’t seen her coming and she hadn’t crossed another Trooper since then. She followed the coordinates that Niv had sent, constantly on alert for incoming Stormtroopers.

“Jess!” Niv stepped out of a doorway and gave her a quick hug. “You’re ok?”

“I’m fine,” Jess nodded. “You?”

“Good.” Niv paused and looked at the jumpsuit. “What are you wearing?”

“Needed a disguise. Easier to get my hands on this than some Stormtrooper armor.”

“And you had time for a wardrobe change?”

“We’re gonna do this now?”

Niv held his hands up as if to say _I’m sorry—never mind._

“To be fair,” Jess said, “I ended up crawling around underneath equipment in Engineering and then climbing _up_ an engine block—heat-protective clothing seemed important. You haven’t gotten to Poe yet?”

“Need to override the locks. Didn’t want to do it without someone watching my back,” Niv explained as they made their way down the remainder of the corridor.

“What about cameras?”

“So you’re actually worried about the cameras now?” 

“Yes?”

“Not that it matters, but they’re already looped.”

“Damn, you’re good,” she gave him a grin. “How much time do we have?”

“Twenty minutes? Give or take a minute.”

“That given or taken minute matters a lot, Niv.”

“There will be all sorts of lights and alarms when we hit the 10-minute mark. Can’t override evacuation procedures.”

“Not sure how that’s helpful to us.”

“Sorry.” Niv flashed a quick grin before he sobered quickly. He pointed to a large grey door. “That’s the door we need to override.”

“How long do you need?”

“Twenty seconds? A minute?” Niv guessed. “Not really sure. Most of their systems aren’t at full capacity yet, so it could be completely unsecured.”

Jess nodded. “Go, I’ll cover you.”

Niv darted to the entry keypad and popped the front display off. He began to work the wires, cutting and twisting and splicing, while Jess watched for incoming Stormtroopers. Less than a minute later, the door behind her hissed open.

“Come on,” Niv said and pushed the keypad back together. It wouldn’t stand up to any serious scrutiny but wasn’t noticeably sabotaged enough to catch the attention of a casual passerby. Jess looked both ways one more time before she stepped through the door. Niv followed her and closed the door behind them.

“Second entrance to secure?”

“It’s a detention block,” Niv whispered, “only one door.”

“Any security?”

“Cameras only showed a single Trooper. Couldn’t find which cell Poe is in. That system isn’t online yet.”

“Well, it can’t be that hard to find him, can it? New ship, few prisoners,” Jess replied softly as they crept down the dark hallway. Around the next corner, the light was brighter. Niv and Jess looked at each other and drew their blasters and crept around the corner. Immediately, they found themselves face to face with the shocked Stormtrooper guard. All three froze and waited for the other to make the first move.

Jess recovered first and gave the trooper her most patronizing smile. “Hi,” she said, her voice both syrupy and dangerous. “Let’s make this easy, yeah? You tell us where he is and we’ll get out of your hair, alright?”

“Intruders!” the Stormtrooper shouted and reached for his comm. Jess grabbed his wrist and wrenched it to the side, sending the comm to skitter across the floor. She kicked out and hit the trooper behind the knees, brought a hand to his neck, and slammed him to the ground. She kicked his blaster to Niv before maneuvered herself top of the fallen Stormtrooper and sat on his chest with her feet pressing down into his stomach and her knees into his shoulders to pin him down.

“I _did_ ask nicely,” she growled. “But this works, too. Where is he?”

“Where’s who?” the trooper shot back.

“Don’t play dumb,” Jess said as she leaned forward and ground her left knee into the man’s shoulder. “Poe Dameron. The only prisoner you have.”

The trooper cried out in pain. “Last cell! He’s in the last cell!”

“Now was that really so hard?” Jess asked and leaned back to remove pressure from his shoulder. She reached for her blaster and then fired a stun shot into his chest.

Niv gaped at her. “Who are you?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“That is not standard NRDF self-defense training.”

Jess grinned. “Picked some things up before I was at the Academy. Tell you later.”

“Of course you will,” Niv sighed.

“Come on.”

The pair moved quickly to the end of the cellblock. Jess frowned. The rest of the cells had been standard with electronic fields to hold the prisoners in their cells, but the last cell door was solid metal and had a security screen to the left of the door. Jess checked the screen and saw a grainy green image of Poe Dameron, huddled in a corner. Realization dawned on Jess: it was a sensory deprivation cell.

“Shit,” Jess whispered. “It’s a blackout cell. Get it open, now.” Part of their torture resistance training with the NRDF had included SD cells. Jess could still remember how bad the nightmares were for the week afterwards.

“Oh, mate, what’d they do to you?” Niv whispered as he shorted out the cell’s lock.

As soon as the door slid open, Jess rushed into the cell and knelt by her friend. She angled her body to block as much of the intense light as she could. She looked down at her friend: all visible skin was littered with cuts, scrapes, or bruises and left little hope that the rest of his body looked better. She took in his face: the large bruise on his jawline, the split lip, the broken nose, the black eye, the stripes of dried blood that ran down his cheek. Gently, she moved his blood-matted curls to expose the cut on his forehead near his hairline. _I should have killed Hux,_ she thought darkly before she pushed the thought away and focused on her friend.

“Poe,” she whispered and squeezed the unconscious man’s shoulder. Poe woke with a sharp flinch and pulled away from her, his eyes wild and pupils wide before he squeezed them shut against the light. “Hey, hey, you’re okay. It’s just me. It’s Jess,” Jess soothed softly and gently stroked his hair. She could tell that Poe was breathing was too quickly and that he was close to hyperventilating. “You’re ok, Poe. I promise. I’m here to take you home. You’re safe now. You’re safe. We’re all okay, but I need you to calm down a little. Can you do that for me? We’ll start slow. Just breathe with me. In and out. Breathe in—just like that, yeah, and breathe out—there you go, perfect.” She continued to guide his breathing until Poe’s breaths matched hers and slowly evened out.

Finally, he opened his eyes slowly. Jess waited while they adjusted and focused on her. “Jess?” he croaked, his voice bewildered.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Poe opened and closed his mouth, as if trying to say something. “Real?” he finally rasped.

“Yeah. I’m real.”

“How?” he closed his eyes again.

“Long story for later. Keep your eyes open for me?”

Poe forced his eyes open again and met Jess’s gaze.

“Hey, there you are,” Jess smiled gently. “Welcome back. I’m gonna get you out of those binders, yeah?” She helped him to move forward, away from the wall so she could move behind him and release the binders with her multi-tool. “There we go,” she said as she moved back in front of him. “Better?”

“What’s on your face?” he asked groggily. Clumsily fingers reached up to touch the golden inked marks on her cheeks. Jess cringed when she saw the odd angle of Poe’s finger. _Broken,_ she thought, adding it to the catalog of injuries she’d already formed in her mind.

“Needed a disguise to get around on Arkanis. Apparently they don’t like Republic pilots much. Kiffar qukuuf tattoos seemed to do the trick,” She smiled and gently caught his hand and lowered it to his lap. “Come on, it’s time to go.”

“You can’t really be here,” he whispered and closed his eyes again. “You can’t be real. You’re just a dream.”

Jess took his uninjured hand and pressed it against her face. “You feel that? It’s me, Poe. I’m real. Open those eyes for me, flyboy. Let me see those brown beauties.” Slowly, Poe complied with her request. “There you go, Poe. Great. Now stay with me, okay?” she looked down at the bundle on his lap. “How’d you get my jacket?”

“It _is_ yours?” Poe’s eyes widened.

“Yeah. Well…kind of. It’s complicated. How did you get it?”

“So it was you on the security camera,” he said distantly.

Jess furrowed her brow. “I guess? Poe, you’re not making sense.”

“He said they’d killed you.”

“Who? Hux?” Jess asked. Poe nodded. Jess gave a lopsided smirk. “Never even came close, Boss.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his tone wary. “Were you captured?"

“Course not. I told you, I’m here to rescue you, Commander. Come on, we gotta get out of here. What’s hurt?”

“I’m okay,” Poe said and rubbed his wrists. Jess could hear him try to put on his ‘Commander Voice’ with little success. She pulled his hands away from the damaged skin.

“You’re a shit liar, Dameron. Not to mention you look like hell. Now tell me: what’s hurt?”

“Took a bad fall when I got captured. The right side of my body got the worst of it—knee, shoulder, and ribs mainly. One—maybe two?—broken fingers. Broken nose I think? And a concussion seems likely. My wrists are…they hurt. And general…evidence of torture. I guess I’m a little more banged up than I thought,” he admitted with a shiver.

“You cold?” Before he could respond, Jess grabbed the jacket from his lap carefully pulled it onto Poe.

Poe sighed as the jacket warmed him and the shivers subsided. “Did you came alone?” he asked, still trying to make sense of what was happening.

“Na, Niv came with me.”

“Hey Dameron,” Niv gave a quick salute from where he stood watch at the cell door.

Poe narrowed his eyes. “Is he in a uniform?” his confusion evident in his voice. He looked back at Jess. “And what are you wearing?”

“Needed a disguise,” Jess shrugged.

“How did you two—” A cough cut him off, ragged against his aggravated throat.

“Niv—is there water on the desk?” Jess asked. Niv looked and nodded and disappeared, only to reappear a moment later with a glass of water that he handed to Jess. “Here. Sip it,” Jess said and offered the water to Poe. He nodded and took small sips until his cough subsided.

“Thanks,” he whispered. “Maybe add my throat to that list?”

“Yeah, no more talking for you until we’re back on the ship,” Jess decided.

“Not to be pushy,” Niv said, “but we’ve got about six minutes before everyone knows what we did and 16 minutes to get off this thing before we go down with it.”

Jess met Niv’s eyes and nodded. “OK, flyboy, on your feet,” she said to Poe.

“What did you do?” Poe looked between the two.

“Oh, yeah. About that. Well, we decided that since we were already here—and the First Order is a bit rubbish—that we might as well take out this Star Destroyer. Apparently, when you let someone as tech-savvy as Niv at it, you can generate an auto-destruct sequence. Which, he did. So, you know, we have a bit of a time crunch now,” Jess explained.

“What?” Poe asked, confusion in his voice.

“Concussion. Right. I’ll explain more later. Key information: we’re blowing up this Star Destroyer, so we need to get off of it.” She stood and offered a hand to her friend. “Can you stand?”

Poe nodded and shakily got to his feet. He pushed away Jess’s helping hand, wanting to stand on his own. As soon as he was on his feet, though, he swayed dangerously and reached out for the wall to support him. He squeezed his eyes closed. “Jess…” he called weakly.

“What do you need, Poe?” she asked, standing close.

“Hold onto me,” he said quietly.

Jess immediately moved to his left side and wrapped her arm around his waist to support him. “I got you,” she whispered, “I got you.”

Poe draped his arm across her shoulders, pulling strength and balance from his friend. “I guess I’m a little more unsteady than I thought, too,” he tried to smile but stopped when his lip started to rip open again.

“I got you. I got you, Poe. And I won’t let go. I promise,” Jess whispered and held him close.

“Always for you?” Poe grimaced.

“Always for you,” Jess confirmed.

“Pava, we’ve gotta go!” Niv said. He anxiously looked around. “We’re pushing our luck.”

“Are you ok to move?” she asked quietly.

Poe nodded, ignoring the dizziness it brought on.

Jess took her blaster from behind her back and passed it to Niv. “Cover us?” she asked.

Niv nodded and accepted the blaster. “Follow me.”

As soon as they stepped out of the cell, Poe groaned in pain.

“What is it?” Jess asked urgently and scanned his body for any additional injuries.

“It’s my eyes. The light feels like it’s burning them—it’s too bright,” Poe hissed.

Jess reached into her satchel for her maroon scarf but hesitated. Poe had just spent nearly two weeks as a captive in a blackout cell. She wasn’t sure if he would be ok with this or not. She looked from her scarf and up at Poe. “Trust me?” she asked quietly.

He looked down at the scarf and understood her intentions. He nodded. “Always,” Poe whispered.

Jess reached up and tied the scarf over his eyes. Poe inhaled sharply when the blindfold went on and Jess could see the tension return to his shoulders. “It’s just me. I’m still right here,” She said and wrapped her arm around him again. “I’ve got you and I’m not going anywhere.”

Poe exhaled slowly and some of the stress left his shoulders at the physical touch. “I know,” he whispered.

“Ready?” Niv asked.

Jess nodded and followed him out of the Detention Block Corridor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they're finally reunited!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored!

* * *

Niv led the way back to the hangar, blaster in hand. Their route back to the hangar was surprisingly void of Stormtroopers. A small blessing for which Jess was extremely grateful to the Universe for: Poe was in no shape for stealth and his injuries were made all the more obvious by his blindfold and how heavily he leaned on Jess.

“How much farther?” Jess asked.

“Not too far,” Niv said with a glance at his datapad. “Two more corners, a hall, and then a door. Then straight across the hangar to our ship.”

“Ok,” Jess nodded and shifted her grip on Poe.

“Need to switch?” Niv asked. “I can take Poe if you want to cover us.”

“No, I’m good. I’m just wondering when our luck is gonna run out.”

“You there! Halt!” the mechanically filtered voice of a Stormtrooper shouted.

Jess froze and closed her eyes while she took a deep breath before she looked at Niv. She felt Poe tense in her grasp at the sound of the voice. Jess tightened her grip.

“Apparently our luck runs out now,” Niv muttered.

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Jess said under her breath. “Sorry.”

“It’ll be fine. Protect Dameron. I’ll take care of them,” Niv said. He pressed a blaster back into her hand. “When you see an opening, take your shot.”

Jess nodded and tightened her grip on Poe. “Stay with me,” she whispered to her friend.

“Troopers,” Niv said sharply. He stepped around Jess and Poe to face the two Stormtroopers. At his full height, Niv towered over the Stormtroopers and used that to his advantage as he stared them down. “What precisely is it that you think you are doing?”

“Sir, I apologize, we didn’t see you with them,” one of the Troopers said. “We have orders to look for a trespasser.”

While Niv distracted the Stormtroopers, Jess slowly moved Poe and herself to the edge of the corridor until Poe could lean on the wall for support. She took his uninjured hand and placed it on her shoulder so he knew where she was. “I’m still here, Poe,” she whispered, “I just need both hands.” Poe nodded slightly. Jess stepped in front of him to protect him from the Troopers.

Niv glared at the Trooper. “And you think that I am that trespasser? Or that I am with them?”

“No Sir,” the other Trooper said quickly. “But the Engineer you’re with…” he indicated to Jess.

“What about her?”

“She is not—”

“She’s not any of your concern,” Niv cut him off. “She is under my orders to help me bring this prisoner directly to General Hux. Do you dare stand in my way?”

“Of course not, Sir,” the first Trooper replied. “We’re just following orders.”

“See that you follow them better in the future,” Niv said sharply. “And do not question your superiors.”

“Of course, Sir,” the second Trooper nodded. “It won’t happen again.”

Jess thumbed the blaster to prime it and waited for Niv to move.

“Good,” Niv nodded sharply. “See that it doesn’t. As you were.” He turned and strode back towards Jess and Poe.

“Sir, before you go,” the first Stormtrooper said, “can I confirm your name and identification number?”

Niv’s eyes met Jess’s. Jess gave a barely perceptible nod.

“Is it your place to ask that?” Niv asked with his back still to the Troopers.

“Just being thorough, Sir,” the Trooper replied.

“Quite right,” Niv said without turning. “And you should be commended for your work ethic.”

“Your name and identification number, Sir,” the other Trooper said.

“Of course,” Niv said and turned around, but stepped to the side to give Jess a clear shot at the Troopers. Before either Trooper could react, Jess fired off two shots that hit the Troopers square in the chest.

“Good shot,” Niv said.

“Easy targets. Probably not a _fair_ shot.” Jess holstered her blaster and started to wrap her arm around Poe again before she stopped and stared at the fallen Stormtroopers. “Niv, come here.”

“What?”

“Can you stay with Poe for a second?”

Niv moved to help support Poe while Jess walked past him and knelt down by the Troopers. She felt along the base of one of their helmets in search of the release.

“What are you doing?” Niv asked.

A hiss of air escaped the helmet when Jess depressurized it. She carefully pulled it off the dead Trooper to reveal a man with tanned skin and short brown hair. Jess wasn’t sure what she’d expected to see under the helmet, but it certainly wasn’t this: he was about their age and looked normal—like someone they could have gone to the Academy with. She lifted her fist to her forehead and brought it down to the man’s forehead and whispered, “Tilbake til stjernestov.” 

“Jess!” Niv hissed. “What are you doing?”

She held up the helmet and walked back to her friends. “Taking this.”

“What do you need that for?” Niv asked as Jess shoved the helmet into her satchel.

“Proof.”

Niv stared at her as he processed what she meant before he nodded slowly in understanding. She was right: no one would believe this.

A klaxon shrieked to life above their heads, startling them.

“Sheeeit,” Jess said and covered her ears.

Red lights began flashing all around them and a deep, computerized voice blared, “Attention! All personnel report to your evacuation stations immediately. Repeat: all personnel report to your evacuation stations immediately. This is not a drill.”

“What’s going on?” Poe asked.

“That’s our 10-minute mark,” Niv said.

“Do they know what’s happening?” Jess asked.

“That would be what the klaxons are signifying, yes,” Niv replied shortly. “Come on, we gotta move.” 

Jess nodded and wrapped her arm around Poe’s waist. “Let’s go,” she said.

They gave up any pretense of stealth as they moved down the hallway, moving as fast as Poe’s injured leg would allow. It wasn’t until they were almost to the hangar that they saw any other First Order personnel, but the officers passed them by without a second glance.

“Niv, you still have the binders?” Jess asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“They’re evacuating, right? Someone has to evacuate the prisoner.”

“Good thought,” Niv said and handed the binders to Jess.

“Poe, I’m gonna put some binders on you, alright? They’re not locked, they’re just for show. And I’m sorry, but you’re gonna have to walk on your own across the hangar, ok? You’re not alone—it’s just an act. We’ve gotta get past the Stormtroopers,” Jess said.

Poe nodded and offered her his hands in front of him. Jess closed the binders as gently as she could before wrapping a supportive hand around Poe’s bicep. She pulled out her blaster and pointed it towards Poe, but didn’t make contact between the weapon and his side in the same way that Niv had with her when they’d first arrived.

“Ready?” Niv asked.

“Let’s get out of here,” Jess agreed and Niv tapped the door open.

The hangar buzzed with activity: Officers attempted to organize their soldiers into something similar to order and demanded clarification on the evacuation orders, Stormtroopers and TIE Fighter Pilots stood by awaiting orders, and other First Order personnel waited with uncertainty in their eyes. All of them were trying to figure out what was happening that would require an evacuation order. They were all so preoccupied and distracted, the arrival of Niv, Jess, and Poe went unnoticed.

“They’re not even guarding our ship anymore,” Jess whispered.

“Don’t get sloppy. We’re almost out.”

Jess nodded and led Poe forward towards the JM-5K. Every breath seemed to catch in her throat as they passed squadron after squadron of First Order Stormtroopers, but none of them paid her any attention. All of them had turned their focus onto two individuals standing in the center of the hangar. 

“Ma’am, there is nothing we can do,” a man in an Engineering coverall said, his voice earnest, “the ship is going down. We have less than ten minutes to get off this ship.”

“And why is that, Chief Engineer Jeffers?” a woman’s voice sneered.

That was a voice that Jess knew. She glanced over to see the petite and pale form of Major Raffton.

“Shit, we have company,” Jess whispered, nodding her head towards the Major.

“Keep walking,” Niv said softly. “Ignore her.”

Jess tightened her grip on Poe’s bicep as they continued their walk across the hangar, but she kept listening to Jeffers and Raffton’s conversation.

“Major Raffton, whoever attacked our ship knew what they were doing: the _Revenant_ has been sabotaged beyond repair,” Jeffers replied. “Even if we had the time, it would take days to undo the damage that was inflicted on Engineering, and even longer to determine the coding that was sequenced for the auto-destruct _and_ still even more time for us to figure out how to undo it. If we even could undo it. But we don’t have days. We have _minutes_. And we are wasting time.” 

A smile threatened to break out on Jess’s face: she and Niv had overwhelmed an entire war machine. Now was not the time to think about that, though, so she kept moving towards the 5K; she and Niv could celebrate their success later.

They were almost to their ship when Major Raffton noticed them. 

“That’s them!” she shouted. “Those are the saboteurs! Kill them!” A squadron of Stormtroopers turned from their evacuation ship and started firing at the three pilots.

“Damn it. Go, go, go, go, go!” Niv shouted and laid down cover fire for Jess and Poe as they clumsily ran the last twenty meters to their ship.

Jess lowered the ramp and all but dragged Poe up into the JM-5K.

“Niv, come on!” she shouted. Niv raced up past her and towards the cockpit. Jess slammed her hand on the ramp control. As it closed, Jess took Poe to the bunk room and deposited him onto one of the berths—“Stay here,” she ordered—and ran back to the cockpit. By the time she was in the copilot’s seat, the ramp was closed and Niv had already completed his preflight checks.

“Dameron’s on board?” he asked.

“In the bunks. How long do we have?”

“Four minutes before things go boom!” Niv replied tensely, flipping a few final switches. She felt the ship give a slight shudder as it retracted its landing gear and hovered off the ground. “I’m going to separate weapons control. They’re all yours now,” he said, flipping a toggle. 

“Got it.” Jess fired up the weapons. She surveyed the hangar as the array warmed up. “It looks like you got the jump on them. They weren’t prepared for this.”

“Uh-huh,” came Niv’s distracted reply. “Let me know when you’re hot.”

Jess checked her display. “We’re good—cannons are online, torpedoes will be hot in thirty seconds. Get us out of here, Niv.”

“With pleasure,” he replied and pushed the yoke forward to fly towards the door.

“Is there a security system I need to shoot out?” Jess asked. “Shields?”

“Nope. It’s disabled.”

“Did you do that?”

“No. That’s the best part—it’s a feature of the emergency response pre-programming,” Niv said. “Never expected that they’d want to keep someone on board during an evacuation, did they?” He grinned as they soared through the hangar door and out into the black of space.

Jess chuckled before looking at her viewscreen and her expression grew serious. “We’ve got company.”

“How many?”

“A lot,” Jess said, flipping the safety off of the triggers and taking aim.

“We need to get at least 10 klicks away before we make a jump.”

“Why?”

“You ever try to jump when you’re this close to a ship that’s about to self-destruct? It ends _badly._ ”

“Got it. 10 klicks it is. How long is that gonna take?”

“Two minutes?”

Jess inhaled sharply. “Ok. Two minutes. Let’s go.”

Niv expertly piloted the 5K through the swarm of TIE fighters as Jess took out as many of the enemy ships as she could.

“They’re panicking now,” Jess said, nodding towards the transports fleeing from the doomed Star Destroyer.

“Good,” Niv responded, corkscrewing the ship through a knot of TIEs. Jess fired, taking out three more ships.

“Jess! Rogue!” Niv shouted as he tried to turn the ship away. Jess targeted the ship and fired. Her shot hit home, but not before the TIE pilot managed to get their own shots off that also hit their target.

“Kriff!” Jess shouted as the ship rocked from the impact. Sparks flew from the nav-computer behind them. Jess’s gaze flew across the instrument panel, looking for the repercussions of the hit.

“Auto-Nav is out,” Niv said through gritted teeth.

“Take over the weapons,” Jess said and flipped the toggle to send weapons control to the pilot’s console. She moved from the co-pilot’s chair to the nav station. The screen was blinking error codes and had disengaged itself from the main computer. “Shit.”

“Are we dead?” Niv asked as he maneuvered the ship farther away from the doomed Star Destroyer and the gravity of Känu III. Jess felt the slight vibration of the ship as he fired at the pursuing TIE fighters.

“Not if I have anything to say about it. Give me a minute,” Jess said. She closed the error codes and pulled up a real-time star chart. Her eyes scanned the available routes and numbers flew through her mind. Her gaze landed on Llanic. _Perfect._ She calculated the jump in her head, then ran the numbers one more time to make sure they wouldn’t end up in a gravity well, black hole, or otherwise.

“We don’t have a minute.”

“Twenty seconds,” she muttered and manually forced the nav-computer to reconnect to the main computer before she input the route. The computer beeped once to reconnect and a second time to accept the new bearings.

A bright, fiery flash lit the cockpit, followed by a series of low, reverberating ‘booms’ that echoed through the JM-5K. Everything seemed to freeze as Jess looked out at the _Revenant_ and watched as a series of explosions ran along the centerline of the ship. An electrical surge ran through the Star Destroyer and all the lights flickered out, plunging the monstrous vessel into darkness. The black silhouette of the Star Destroyer’s nose cut into the yellow glow of Känu III as the ship began falling towards the planet below. The sharp point would soon disappear into the hazy yellow atmosphere of the gas giant and not long after, the rest of the SD would follow.

They had done it: they crashed a Star Destroyer.

“Anytime now, Jess!” Niv shouted, bringing her back to the present. “We’re getting overrun. The cannons on this thing aren’t like our X-Wings!”

“Punch it!” she shouted back.

Niv whipped the ship around sharply to match the jump vector. The stars seemed to stretch for just a moment before the ship snapped out of realspace and into hyperspace. Niv let out a whoop of excitement. “She might not be much to look at, but damn if this ship can’t fly!”

Jess let out a sigh and leaned back in the navigator’s seat. “Nice flying, ace,” she winked. “Have you thought about joining the Navy?”

“You’re not a bad gunner yourself. Go to the Academy or something?” Niv teased. He looked at the screen in front of her—all that was open on it was a star chart and a manual entry window. He furrowed his brow. “Did you just calculate that jump in your head?”

“Yeah,” Jess laughed.

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

Jess shrugged.

“More secrets?”

“Na,” Jess shook her head. “No secrets this time. Numbers and math make sense to me. Always have. My dad…” she cleared her throat. “My dad taught me how to do the math to calculate a jump when I was a kid and I just…kept practicing. It’s easy.”

“Easy?” Niv laughed. “I barely passed my practicum on Manual Jump Calculations.”

“So glad I know that now. It makes me real confident to fly with you,” Jess deadpanned.

Niv shrugged. “I passed.” 

“Sure you did,” she teased and closed her eyes, feeling her exhaustion start to pull her under.

“Hey, Jess?” Niv said.

“Yeah?”

“We just took out a kriffing Star Destroyer.”

Jess grinned and opened her eyes. She looked at her friend. “We did, didn’t we?”

“Didn’t teach _that_ at the Academy, did they?” Niv laughed. 

Jess felt the laugh bubble up inside of her until they were both laughing uncontrollably—a combination of adrenaline, exhaustion, and relief coursed through their bodies.

“When did we last sleep?” Jess groaned and rubbed her eyes. “I mean real sleep. Not counting that two-hour nap on the bench seat.”

“Near as I can tell, 57 hours, give or take,” Niv replied, stretching as best he could in the pilot’s chair. “Not since before the Arkanis Academy.”

“Oh yeah. That. That was recent. Fantastic.” Jess rolled her head from side to side. She turned back to her friend. “You doing ok?”

Niv nodded. “I’m ok for now. Last stim was about thirteen hours ago, so probably another hour before I start to feel the comedown. Hour and a half 'til it’s bad unless we do another one.”

“Will Pizo sticks help?”

“They might push it to two hours. Have another stim ready?”

“No.” Jess shook her head. “I don’t wanna push you to three unless we have no other choices. Right now, it looks like we have other choices.” 

“You don’t have to do that for me.”

Jess furrowed her brow. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I know, it’s just…”

“Just nothing. Look, Niv,” Jess sighed, “I know I’m…difficult sometimes. And single-minded. And have major trust issues. And I know that people think that I don’t listen to anyone or care about anything. And maybe there’s some truth to that. But I care about my friends. I care about you. And I would do anything for you. Anytime and without question. I hope you know that.” 

Niv nodded. “I do know that.”

“Good.”

“And thanks.”

“Always.”

A peaceful quiet fell on the cockpit, lit by the blue glow of hyperspace and interrupted only by the soft beeps from the various consoles.

“What happened to the disruptor?” Niv asked after a while.

Jess gave a pained smile. “It went down with The _Revenant._ I left it in Engineering.”

“Why?”

Jess sighed. “I…I used it on a Stormtrooper,” she confessed. “I was fighting Major Raffton and the Trooper raised his blaster at me. I reached back and…it was an accident, but he’s gone—like, there’s no body left gone. It was terrifying. You were right: that’s a weapon that shouldn’t exist.”

“What did Raffton do?”

“She ran off.” Jess scoffed. “Coward.”

Niv nodded. “I’m glad you left it behind.” He hesitated. “How’s Dameron?”

Jess looked back towards the bunkroom and shrugged. “Don’t really know. I kinda just dropped him on a bunk and told him to stay put.” She huffed a laugh, but it fell flat. “It seemed more pressing to get up here.”

“Go.” Niv nodded back to the bunks. “I’ve got this.”

“You sure?” Jess asked.

“Positive. You’re gonna drive me insane if you keep looking back like that. I fly for the same Navy as you do. I promise: I’m fine. Now go.”

“You’re on the end of your second stim.”

“Least it’s not my third.”

“Niv—”

“You’re at the end of your second one, too.”

“Comedown doesn’t hit me like it hits you.”

“Maybe not. But you’ll be better once you know Dameron’s all right. And I’ll be fine until you’re back.”

Jess gave Niv a tired grin. “Thanks, Niv.” She clapped a hand on his shoulder as she stood from her seat and left the cockpit. From the drawer under the bench seat, she retrieved the medkit. Whether or not Poe would let her help him at all was debatable, but having it in her hand made her feel less useless.

Jess stood in the doorway of the bunkroom, staring at her friend. Poe was lying on his back, exactly how Jess had left him: his eyes covered with the blindfold and his hands in binders in front of him. A pang of sadness flashed through her: he hadn’t removed them himself. Jess clenched her jaw and blinked back tears, thinking back to their last conversation before he had left for Arkanis—that those could have been the last words they ever spoke to each other. Thinking of what could have happened if she hadn’t trusted Karé and Iolo and hadn’t agreed to follow the beacon on Poe’s ship. Thinking about what did happen. Thinking what could still happen when they got back to Hosnian Prime. She shook her head to clear her mind and stepped into the narrow room. There would be time for that kind of introspection later. Right now, her friend needed her.

“Lights to twenty-five percent,” she muttered as she walked over to the other lower bunk and sat on the edge of the bed frame. The ten inches between the berths felt like a massive chasm in the silence.

“Hey Dameron,” she said. He didn’t flinch: he knew she was there. “Can I take those binders and the blindfold off you now?”

Poe didn’t say anything, but gave a slight nod and lifted his head. Jess reached over and removed the scarf from his head and then pressed the release for the binders. “There you are,” she said, her voice soft. She tucked the binders into her pocket so they were out of view. Not that it mattered: Poe wouldn’t look at her. “Mind if I fix you up a bit?”

Jess sat in the dim silence, waiting for Poe to make a decision. Finally, he gave another nod. Jess moved from her perch on the empty bunk to sit on the edge of his bed. She opened the medkit and began gently cleaning his wounds.

Jess worked in silence—wiping away blood and applying bacta gel.

“You really real?” The sound of Poe’s voice broke Jess’s heart. For as long as she’d known him, Poe had been loud and bold and larger than life. Now, Poe’s voice was quiet and he seemed small. Smaller than Jess had ever seen him before.

She pushed the thought away and nodded with a weak smile. “Yeah. I’m really real.”

“It’s hard to tell right now. Everything’s…fuzzy.”

“Well, they did a number on you, Dameron. I’m not surprised,” Jess said as she took his hand and gently wrapped his finger in a splint.

“You gonna tell me ‘I told you so’?” Poe asked miserably, his eyes following her movements.

“No.”

“Really?” Poe tried to sit up.

“Lie the fuck back down,” Jess demanded. She waited for him to comply with her words before she continued her ministrations. “And yeah. Really. I just want to know if you’re okay.”

Poe scoffed. “No, I’m not. Not really,” he said. “This past month has just…” He gestured vaguely with his newly bandaged hand to ‘everything’—a motion that Jess was deeply familiar with. “It’s really messed me up,” he finished quietly.

The silence stretched between them with only the hum of the ship to fill the room.

“Hey…Boss…I’m sorry…about Muran,” Jess said softly. She gently started to clean the blood from Poe’s forehead, trying to remove as much of it as she could before she applied the bacta gel and bandages.

Poe kept staring up. “Me too,” he whispered.

“And I’m sorry about what happened to you.”

Poe let out a slow breath. “Thanks.”

“And I’m sorry—”

“Kriff, Jess. What else could you possibly be sorry for?” Poe tried to tease, but his words came out harsh: too pointed and sharp. Jess paused what she was doing, giving Poe space. “I…I didn’t mean for that to come out like that. I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Jess said softly. “I get it.” She gave a weak smile and went back to treating his cut. A few minutes later she softly said, “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you back on Hosnian Prime. You were right—something’s wrong. And it’s deep—deep in the Senate, in the NRDF, in all of it. Command isn’t doing anything. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I wish I had. And I wish you would have let one of us come as back up.”

“Didn’t stop you from coming anyway,” Poe said with a weak grin. “But you and me…we’re good. I’m not mad or anything, because if our places were swapped, I probably would have questioned what I was saying, too.” He closed his eyes and sighed.

“Possibly, but I think you would have trusted me. You always seem to trust me. Even when I don’t deserve it,” Jess argued. “Maybe especially when I don’t deserve it.”

Silence settled over them again. Jess thought Poe may have fallen asleep when he winced and let out a small sound of pain.

“What is it?” Jess asked.

Poe let out a pained chuckle. “I don’t think I knew how badly I was hurt while I was there. Without the fear and adrenaline to distract me…I’m in pretty bad shape, aren’t I?”

Jess smiled softly. “Yeah, you’re looking a little rough, Boss.” In the dark prison cell, Jess had been so overwhelmed by the number of bruises and Poe’s overall condition that she hadn’t noticed the dark circles under his eyes or the pinched lines of pain between his brows. She took a sedative from the medkit and pressed it to his thigh.

Poe looked down at the pressure on his leg. “Did you just…?” he started to ask but fell asleep before he could finish his sentence.

“Yell at me later, Commander,” Jess whispered and pulled the blanket over him. She gathered the medkit supplies and stood to leave, but hesitated. She drew her blaster and laid it on top of the maroon scarf next to him. The sedative should keep him out for a few hours, but just in case he woke up early, she wanted Poe to remember where he was and who he was with—and that he was safe.

“Welcome back,” Niv greeted with a yawn as Jess rejoined him in the cockpit. The swirls of blue starlight lit their faces.

“Thanks,” Jess grinned and sat back down in the co-pilot seat. “Any changes?”

“Quiet as usual,” Niv replied. “I’ve been thinking.”

“That’s dangerous.” Jess grinned.

Niv ignored her. “You said you didn’t want to do another stim.”

“Right.”

“But Hosnian Prime is over six hours away.”

“Yeah.”

“So that means that when you plotted a new course, you didn’t put in the coordinates for home.”

Jess shook her head. “Didn’t want to make it easy for the First Order to track us. Thought we should lay low for a day or two. And I didn’t want to push you to a third stim. Plus, Dameron’s gonna need more help than I can give him before we get home. He’s pretty banged up. So I looked for something closer.”

“Where are we going?”

“Llanic.”

Niv gave Jess an incredulous look. “You know someone on Llanic?”

Jess nodded.

“How…why?”

Jess laughed hollowly. “I owe you so many explanations,” she groaned.

“I’m used to it by now,” Niv smiled wearily. “So how’s Dameron?”

Jess sighed. “Physically, he’s in rough shape. I mean, I’m not a professional, but I’m hoping it’s nothing some bacta and good rest won’t fix, but that’s why I want to stop on Llanic. Just in case I’m wrong. Mentally, he seems…okay…I guess. Poe’s always been pretty resilient, so he might be fine, but I’m gonna push him to see a psytech anyway once we’re back. Between this and Muran...”

“What’s he doing now? Is he okay alone?”

Jess blushed, her expression sheepish. “Uhh…he’s fine. He’s sleeping. I gave him a sedative, so he should be out for a while still.”

“Does he know you gave him a sedative?”

Jess gave a contemplative look. “Debatable.” She smiled. 

“Drugging a superior officer? Pava, you never cease to surprise me.” Niv chuckled.

“I aim to please.” Jess grinned and sunk farther into the copilot’s seat. “I know I’ve said it before, but I feel like I should say it many, many times over: thank you for coming with me.”

“Of course, Jess,” Niv replied instantly.

“No, I mean it. You didn’t have to come. But I’m not sure if I could have done it without you.”

Niv grinned. “Sure you could have. There just would have been a much higher body count and tech would’ve taken longer. If you didn’t just smash it.” He teased. “But you could have done this alone.”

“I couldn’t have done what you did with the computers.”

“So I’m a better tech, you’re a better spy. I think we’re a pretty great team.”

“Like a Rebellion Action Holovid team?” Jess joked.

“Exactly like that,” Niv said with a smile.

Jess nodded. “Yeah, we are. So maybe I could have done it alone, but I’m glad I didn’t have to.”

“You don’t have to thank me for helping you. For helping Dameron. It’s what friends do.”

“Maybe, but I know you’re risking a lot to be here. And I need you to know how much I appreciate it. Losing Poe…I can’t imagine it.”

“Jess, I’ll always be here for you. I promise,” Niv reached over and took her hand. “You don’t get rid of a Corulagan that easily.”

“Thank the Universe.” She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Hey…can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“How did you know how to do all of that technical stuff?”

“Forcing an Auto-Destruct on the ship? I told you—the system coding comes from Corulag. It was familiar.”

“Not that part.”

“Looping the cameras and finding the detention block? You learned that, too. First year: Rescue and Recovery with Wexley. I guess we only touched on it in that class, though. You didn’t take her next class. The next level, Infiltration for Rescue and Recovery, had a huge tech lesson.”

She arched an incredulous eyebrow. “You’re telling me that the _Academy_ taught you to slice the locks?”

Niv blushed. “Oh. That. Erm…no. I learned that as a kid. Corulag was controlled by the Empire for years, and when it was finally liberated, Han Solo was the General leading the charge. I was still a kid and I wanted to be just like him, so I started to learn everything I could about him and the skills he had.”

“So you learned how to hotwire a sensor keypad to be like Han Solo?” Jess grinned mischievously.

“You know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything. It’s embarrassing now that I’ve said it out loud,” Niv muttered.

“No, no. I think it’s great. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an X-Wing pilot because of Luke Skywalker. So I get wanting to be like your hero.” Jess yawned and stretched, straightening up in her seat.

“Can I ask you a question now?” Niv asked.

“Seems fair.”

“Why aren’t you New Republic Intelligence?”

Jess snorted a laugh in surprise. “What?”

“Why aren’t you in Intelligence? You can fly, you can fight, you can shoot, you can hotwire a speeder, you’re handy with a computer, you can blend into your surroundings to a kind of terrifying level, you know how to find information, and you’re incredibly smart. Seems like you’d make a perfect spy. So why are you NRDF as opposed to NRI?”

Jess grinned. “The NRDF is the only one who would take me.”

“What does that even mean? Is this more of that shady stuff you won’t tell me about your past?”

“Niv…” Jess sighed.

“Please…” Niv looked at her, his dark eyes holding hers. “Why don’t you want to tell me?”

Jess leaned back in her chair. “I don’t want to tell you about it because I don’t want it to change what you think of me,” she said softly. “I don’t want you to start thinking I’m fragile or damaged or something. I don’t want you to fly differently with me. I don’t want what we have to change.”

Niv’s eyes went wide. “Jess, I wouldn’t dream of…”

“Don’t,” she stopped him. “Don’t say that. I know you think you mean that now but you don’t know what you’re saying.” She sighed. “I promise that I’ll tell you, and soon. Just…not here. Not now. Not after what we just did and when we haven’t slept in almost three days. Okay?”

“Okay,” Niv nodded, not entirely convinced.

Jess sighed. “It’s a long story, Niv, and one I promise I’ll tell you.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

“I know,” Jess agreed. “How’s the comedown?” Jess asked to change the subject.

Niv gave a weak smile. “Not great.”

“Can you manage to stay awake for another hour? Once we get to Llanic, you can sleep all you need.”

“I can handle it.”

“You don’t need to fly, I just don’t want you to fall asleep only to be woken up in an hour.”

“I’ve got it, Jess. I can still fly.”

“Are you sure?” Jess asked.

“Yeah,” Niv nodded. “I’ll get us to Llanic.”

“Thanks,” Jess said. She leaned back in her chair as exhaustion threatened to overtake her, but she fought against it. They were so close to being safe: Poe was alive and with them, she and Niv hadn’t been injured, and they had gotten away from the _Revenant_. All in all, she knew that today had been a win for them. What worried her now was the next step. It had been a long time since she had been on Llanic and she hoped that she would still be welcome there—that it was still a safe haven for her.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. It was both too late and too early to worry about what would happen next. They were headed to Llanic either way and if she wasn’t welcome there anymore, they would figure out what to do next when the need arose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the end! I think it'll be three or four more chapters. I'm fighting with one section to see how long it is/how well it blends. Thanks for reading!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance. 
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

The JM-5K slipped out of hyperspace just outside of the Llanic system. Jess glanced over at Niv—his hands were shaking on the controls.

“You good?” Jess asked. She knew he wasn’t, but also knew that Niv would be angry if she just assumed control of the ship without giving him the option of handing it over.

“No.” Niv shook his head.

“I’ll bring us in,” Jess said. Niv didn’t argue: he simply nodded and flipped controls to the copilot seat. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh, relief evident in his exhausted face. He pulled a Pizo Stick from his pocket and chewed on it idly. “We’re almost there. I promise.”

Jess piloted the ship to the dark side of Llanic. It was sparsely populated with a population spread wide across the planet. Clusters of glowing light represented pockets of civilization on the otherwise dark surface. Jess guided the ship downward towards one of the larger light clusters, though it still wasn’t even half the size of a city on a core planet.

“What time is it here?” Niv asked. As they drew closer, the glow of the city grew brighter and separated into individual dots of light.

“Not exactly sure,” Jess said. “Late, I would guess. Not quite 2400?”

“Ok.”

Jess could hear the effects of the stim comedown in his voice. “How are you doin’?”

“I’m crashing,” Niv replied. “Comedown is gonna hit hard real soon.”

“Pizo’s not helping?”

“Not really. Not anymore. At least, not at this point. Not much will help at this point, though.”

“Twenty minutes. I promise,” Jess said softly. Niv made a soft sound of agreement. The city was coming into focus now. Jess steered them towards the city limits and a well-lit landing pad. She gently brought the ship down and put it down in a vacant bay. “Come on,” Jess said and stood from the copilot’s seat. “Grab what you need and then help me get Dameron.”

Niv nodded and headed to the bunk room. He grabbed his Go-Bag as well as the bag that Karé had sent with things for Poe. Meanwhile, Jess grabbed her own bag and repacked the medkit before stuffing it into her bag. Together, they carefully lifted the unconscious man and shuffled their way out of the room and down the ramp. Jess closed the ship’s ramp and looked at Niv.

“This way,” she said, indicating with a nod of her head.

The Landing Bay was deserted except for a security droid and a pointy-faced man who gladly took Jess’s credits for the berth as well as a few extra to ignore the unconscious man with them.

The dark streets were nearly empty as Jess and Niv struggled to carry Poe’s unconscious form. The few people who did pass them were mostly too inebriated to question Poe’s wellbeing and looked the other way. Only one person bothered to ask about him, to which Jess smiled and replied, “He drank too much and got in a fight with a Trandoshan. We’re taking him home to sleep it off.” That answer was enough to make the concerned citizen lose interest.

“Where are we going?” Niv whispered as they walked past a row of flat entrances.

“Just a little farther,” Jess said, looking up at the flat numbers. “This one.” Jess stopped in front of one of the doors. To Niv, it looked no different than any other door on the street.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Wait here,” Jess said and shifted Poe’s weight fully onto Niv. She ran up the steps and knocked firmly on the door. “Teela!”

“Go away!” a voice from inside shouted.

“Friend of yours?” Niv asked. He adjusted Poe’s unconscious weight to a more comfortable position.

Jess rolled her eyes and hammered on the door again. “Teela! Open up.”

“Are you deaf? Go away!” the voice shouted again.

“Teela, open this door or I swear by all the Gods of the Doranthray, both the new and the old, that I will—”

“Jessika?” the voice said, surprised. Seconds later the door opened and a Bothan woman stood in the doorframe.

“Hey Teela,” Jess smiled.

“What are you doing here? Huh? And what’s that on your face?” Teela asked. “Come here,” she pulled Jess into a hug. “You haven’t been around for a long time. I was worried that you finally got got.”

“Almost,” Jess smiled.

“You in trouble?”

“Na. You’re only in trouble if you get caught. I promise I’ll tell you all about it, Teela, but right now, I need your help,” she said, moving to the side to show Niv and Poe. “We need somewhere to take care of him and lay low. Just for a day or two.”

“What happened to him?” Teela asked.

“First Order.”

Teela gave Jess a concerned look. “Jessika…”

“Teela, please,” Jess said. “I’ll answer all your questions. But he needs help.”

“Is this illegal?”

“Since when does that matter to you?”

“Is it?”

Jess rolled her eyes. “No. I swear.”

The Bothan nodded and stepped aside. “Bring him in.” Jess jumped back down the stairs and helped Niv lift Poe. They carried the unconscious pilot into Teela’s flat and gently laid him on the couch.

“We don’t have the supplies I need to help him on our ship.”

“Move,” Teela said as she pushed past Jess, her arms full of medical supplies. She knelt down and began working on Poe. “Someone has already started treating him.”

“I tried,” Jess said.

Teela looked over and smiled. “You did well.”

“You taught me well.”

“How long has he been unconscious?”

“I gave him a sedative about two hours ago.”

“Hmm,” Teela nodded and turned back to her patient.

“Hey, Jess…” Niv called groggily.

Jess turned to look at her friend. Niv was leaning heavily on the wall. “Shit, Niv.”

Niv forced a weak smile. “It’s hitting hard now. It’s really bad.”

“I bet.”

“Headache, muscle ache, light sensitivity—it’s bad this time. I think I can feel it in my teeth. Can you usually feel it in your teeth? The light sensitivity, I mean?”

“Teela, he’s having a bad comedown from stims. Can I put him in your guest room?” she asked.

“What, am I running a hotel here?” the Bothan grumbled.

“Teela!”

“Fine, fine,” the woman waved her off.

“Come on,” Jess said, wrapping an arm around Niv. “Let’s get you in bed.”

“That sounds amazing,” Niv groaned.

“Come on, flyboy.” She grinned and led him into the dark guestroom. The light from the hall gave just enough illumination for Jess to maneuver Niv onto the bed without turning on the lights. He was almost asleep before he had even laid down.

“Let’s get those boots off, yeah?” Jess whispered. Niv nodded but didn’t move to help. Jess smiled softly at her friend and took his boots off for him. She stepped across the hall into the fresher and grabbed some pain tablets and a cup of water.

“Niv,” she said, gently shaking him.

“What?” he moaned.

“You gotta take these pain tablets. Then I’ll let you sleep. Ok?”

“Fiiine.” Niv groaned, but sat up enough to take the medication and swallow the water. “Happy?” he asked.

“Very. Now get under the blanket and sleep until you wake up.” Jess helped Niv climb under the blanket and smoothed his hair. “Thank you for everything.”

“Thank me in the morning,” Niv muttered and rolled over.

“Sure thing,” Jess said quietly. “Good night.”

“Night,” Niv whispered, already mostly asleep.

Jess keyed the door closed and walked back to Teela in the main room.

“Need help?” Jess asked when she returned.

Teela waved her off. Jess nodded and went to the conservator and took a bottle of Adumari Ale before she stepped out onto the balcony.

Jess leaned against the railing and took a drink of her beer as she looked out over the city skyline. It had been a long time since she had been on Llanic. It, and specifically Teela’s home, had been a safe harbor for her in her racing days. It was strange to be back now: her life was so different than it had been when she’d last been here. It was like wearing a favorite jacket she’d lost and found again: comfortable and familiar, but with a different fit than it had before.

“You still drink that shit?” Teela asked as she came to join Jess on the balcony.

“You still buy it,” Jess retorted.

Teela laughed. “So. The one on the couch is as good as I can do without taking him to a med center. He’ll make it back to wherever you’re going just fine, though. He’ll survive without a med center but will be much more comfortable and heal much faster if you take him to one. And the one in the bedroom is unconscious but otherwise fine.”

“Thank you,” Jess said softly.

“You’re lucky I keep my medkit well stocked.”

“Is that because of my history of showing up at your door unexpectedly or do you just like to be prepared?”

The Bothan woman rolled her eyes. “Do you have any injuries I need to look at?”

Jess held up her cut palm. It was mostly healed. “Minimal damage this time.”

Teela gave Jess an assessing look. “I haven’t seen or heard from you in four years and then you show up at my door with face tattoos and two injured men. Care to explain yourself?”

Jess smiled ruefully and reached in her shirt, pulling out her NRDF ID tags. She took them off and handed them to Teela. “Sorry. I’ve been a little busy.” 

“Wooo. Well shit. Look at you, kid! A New Republic Pilot!” Teela grinned and flipped the plasteel tags over in her hand. “Are these for real?”

Jess scoffed and took her ID tags back. “Yeah. Of course they are. Took long enough to earn them.” She put the tags around her neck and tucked them back into her shirt. “The tattoos aren’t, though. Just a temporary disguise.”

“Just checking,” Teela teased. She tilted her head to the side as she considered Jess. “Your hair is longer.”

“Yours is grayer.”

“You’ve gained weight.”

Jess faked being scandalized. “Rude.”

“No. Oh, come on, Jessika. I didn’t mean it as an insult—you _know_ that. I mean you finally look healthy. You were always too thin—just this side of sickly.”

“Thanks, I think?” Jess laughed.

“Want to tell me how you ended up where you are?”

Jess grinned. “Got caught racing.”

“I told you that would happen! Didn’t I tell you?”

“You did. You did,” Jess agreed. “New Republic Security Force was ready to send me to prison. An Admiral from the NRDF gave me another option.”

“Military conscription?”

Jess nodded. “Something like that. Seemed better than prison.”

“You mean better than being locked up again.”

“Yeah,” Jess huffed, “much better. The Navy let me fly. It was an easy choice.”

“So you traded in your racing stripes for rank.”

“For now.” Jess shrugged.

“Wanna tell me how you got them?”

Jess told Teela everything about the last four years—from meeting Wedge on Cantonica and going to the Academy to her friendships with Poe and Niv to her capture on Rivin V and her run-in with Gloartan on Ibanjji.

Teela waited for Jess to finish before she spoke. “You’ve had quite the adventure, Jessika.”

“That’s one word for it.”

“So how did you end up here on my doorstep?”

Jess gave a weak laugh. “That’s…another complicated story,” she groaned.

“I have time,” the Bothan woman smiled. “And so do you. Neither of those boys are going anywhere tonight.”

Jess sighed and told the story: what pushed Poe to leave, how she went after him, what happened on Arkanis, the First Order, the _Revenant,_ Major Raffton, General Hux, and how she and Niv crashed the Star Destroyer. “Poe was pretty banged up and needed more help than I could give on the ship. And I didn’t want to risk the First Order finding us on route back to Hosnian Prime. I saw that Llanic was close and…hoped you’d still welcome me,” Jess finished.

“Jessika, you listen close: you’re always welcome here.”

“Thanks,” Jess smiled and looked back over the city.

“Something else is bothering you.”

“When did I become so easy to read?” Jess said with a groan.

“I’ve always known what you were thinking.”

“Fair enough,” Jess sighed. “There was this Stormtrooper. He was with Major Raffton and…I killed him.”

“Why is that bothering you? He’s not the first person you’ve killed.”

“First I’ve used a disruptor on,” Jess replied ruefully.

Teela raised an eyebrow. “A disruptor? Where the hell did you get your hands on one of those?”

“First Order.”

“Of course,” Teela said bitterly.

“I’ve read the reports about Lasan. I know what a disruptor can do to an organic being. But knowing versus seeing…or being the person responsible…it’s a big difference.”

“It’s that bad?”

“Worse. It’s a painful and devastating way to end a life. There was nothing left. I’ve never really felt bad about killing someone if I have to. I mean, I don’t _enjoy_ it—I avoid killing if possible—but it kinda comes with the territory, you know? This one, though…it hit differently.”

Teela looked at Jess again. “You’ve changed.”

“Have I?” she said with a wry grin.

“You’re still fiery, but you’ve mellowed. Or matured. Either way, it’s a good change,” Teela assured her.

Jess sighed. “Not always so sure about that.”

“The fact that you care enough about those two young men to bring them here tells me it is.”

Jess leaned forward on the railing, her hands folded around the bottle in front of her. She sighed. “They’re good men. They deserve better.”

“Better than what happened to them?”

“A better friend than me.”

“Jessika!”

She shrugged.

“Based on what you just told me…you are the best friend those boys could ask for.”

“Niv wouldn’t even be in this situation if it wasn’t for me.”

“Niv always has bad reactions to stims, you said so yourself. And he took the stims to rescue that Poe. You didn’t make him come with you: he chose to. So if it wasn’t for _Poe_ , he wouldn’t be in this situation. That’s not your fault. And it sounds like this Poe is reckless, a loose cannon. Like he would have gotten into plenty of trouble without you.”

Jess smirked. “Makes us quite a pair, doesn’t it?”

Teela laughed. “Yes indeed. It doesn’t surprise me at all that you found a kindred spirit in him.” She sobered quickly. “But if you weren’t his friend,” she continued, “he would still be there: on that Star Destroyer, facing death. Seems to me like you’re a pretty good friend.”

“Maybe,” Jess sighed and took a drink of her beer. “But…”

“But what?”

Jess hesitated. Eventually, she whispered, “They deserve someone with unwavering loyalty.” Her voice was tinged with bitterness.

“What does that mean?”

“They deserve a friend who wouldn’t be swayed by the promise of finding her family.”

“There’s a lot to unpack there, Jessika. You gonna give me more information or am I supposed to guess?”

Jess took another long drink of her beer before answering. “When I was in Engineering with Hux…he said that if I joined the First Order, I could use their resources to find my family,” she admitted miserably. “And I was so… _tempted_ to say yes.”

“Anyone would be swayed by that, Jessika,” Teela soothed. “Not just you.”

Jess shook her head. “Poe wouldn’t. Niv wouldn’t.”

“They didn’t grow up like you did. Allow me to rephrase: anyone who has had your experiences would be swayed by that.”

Jess scoffed. “That’s no excuse. I know better than to trust the First Order, right? But I wanted to. So badly.”

“But you didn’t. You were tempted and you turned away. That’s incredible.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, Jessika! It is. You are incredible. You,” the Bothan woman reached up and took Jess’s chin, turning her head so Jess was facing her, “are miraculous.”

“Miraculous?” Jess gave a wry grin.

“Yes. What happened to you as a child was unspeakably awful. And you have no business being as good as you are with what’s in your past. But here you are: good and kind and smart and loyal and brave. And if that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.” 

“You’re getting sentimental in your old age,” Jess tried to tease, but she knew it came out mean.

“Really?” Teela raised her eyebrows at Jess.

“I’m sorry,” Jess looked away. “You didn’t deserve that. And thank you, but I don’t think I’m all that incredible or miraculous.”

“You’ve never been very good at seeing yourself clearly.”

“It’s a gift,” Jess groaned and stretched.

“Then you should trust the people who do see you.”

“Like you?”

“Like me,” Teela confirmed. “And like those boys in there. They see you.”

Jess shook her head. “They see what I want them to see. There’s no way they see the real me. If they did, I don’t think they’d stick around.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s been my experience that people only follow people they see clearly,” Teela said. “You don’t follow someone if you can’t see who they are. Would you trust that Admiral who got you into the NRDF if you didn’t feel like you saw him clearly? Would you follow Poe into battle if you didn’t trust him? Would you let Niv be on your wing if when you looked at him you saw deception? No, you wouldn’t. Jessika, look at me.”

Jess turned to look at the Bothan woman. “Yes?”

“Do you trust those two young men?”

“With my life,” Jess answered immediately.

“Do they trust you?”

“Yes.”

“So now I want you to look at all three of you through my eyes. I want you to think of all of the miracle I think you are and answer me this: are they worthy of your friendship?”

“I think the question is more of if I am worthy of theirs.”

“Not what I asked. I want to know if I would think they are worthy if your friendship. What I’m asking is are they worthy of _you_? Of your loyalty? Of your ferocity? Of your love?”

Jess thought for a moment before she nodded. “Yeah. I think they are.”

“Good. Because you know what else I see?”

“What?” Jess asked.

“For the first time since I’ve known you…you’re happy.”

Jess arched an eyebrow. “I’m happy?”

“Maybe not right this second,” Teela allowed, “but the way you look at those two young men…I can tell.”

Jess smiled and looked back towards the city. She took another drink of her beer.

“And you smile more. It’s good to see.”

“You can’t tell them that,” she gestured inside. “They’ll never let me live it down.” 

A groan followed by a sharp intake of breath came from inside the flat and drew their attention. Jess turned and ran inside.

Poe was still on the couch, eyes wide as they darted around the unfamiliar room. Jess could tell he was just on this side of panicked and quickly stepped into his field of vision.

“Jess,” he gasped when his gaze landed on her.

“Hey, hey. Yeah, it’s me. You’re ok,” Jess said, dropping to her knees next to him. She held his shoulder to ground him in the present and put her other hand on his cheek. “You’re fine, Poe. You’re with me.”

“Where are we?” he asked quietly.

“We’re someplace safe. Alright?” Jess gently ran her fingers through his curls. “I’ll tell you more later when you’ve leveled out a little more. All that matters right now is that you’re ok. You’re ok.”

“Where’s Lek?”

“He’s sleeping.”

“Are you ok?” Poe asked, his eyes earnest.

Jess smirked. “I’m fine, Poe. Better off than you, that’s for sure. Don’t worry about me.”

“Jessika,” Teela said quietly.

Jess looked up. “Yeah?”

Poe looked up too, surprised to see the Bothan. “Who is that?”

“Shh. That’s Teela. She’s helping us. I’ll explain later,” Jess soothed Poe. “Yeah, Teela?”

“I’m going to bed. There is a cot—”

“In the closet. I know. Thanks,” Jess smiled.

“Sleep well, Little Jessika.”

Jess rolled her eyes at Teela before smiling. “You, too.”

Teela nodded and turned to go to her room.

“Wait, Teela!” Jess called.

“Yes?”

“I mean it…thank you.”

“Of course, Jessika. Of course,” Teela smiled kindly at Jess before stepping into her room. Jess nodded before turning her attention back to Poe.

“Little Jessika?” Poe asked, confused.

“Only she gets to call me that.”

“Ok,” Poe said distantly. His eyes wandered back to where Teela had disappeared into her room before they came back to meet Jess’s gaze. “I thought you were dead.”

“I’m not.”

“It was awful—thinking you were gone. Is that what Ibanjji was like for you?”

“What?”

“When you thought I was dead?”

“Oh. Um. Yeah, probably. Thinking you were dead…it sucked.”

“Sorry about that,” Poe whispered.

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault,” Jess said. “Hey, Poe…how ‘here’ are you right now?”

“I’m here. Everything feels real.” He grunted. “Including the pain.”

“Ok, good. Well, not good, but…how you doing, Poe?” Jess asked.

“I’m fine.”

Jess smirked. “Liar.”

“I’m alive,” he amended.

“I’ll take that for now,” Jess said. “Can I sit?” she asked. Poe nodded and scooted over a few inches to make room for Jess to perch next to him. He reached for her hand. Jess took it and squeezed gently.

“What happened? How did you find me? Why are we here? Where is here?”

“I’ll tell you in the morning, alright? What matters is that you’re safe now, Poe. I promise.”

Panic and worry made their way back into Poe’s eyes. “You saw everything, though, right? The Star Destroyer, the TIE Fighters, the Stormtroopers: all of it. You saw that. It’s real. I’m not making it up.”

“Yeah, I did. You’re not imagining it. And I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.”

Poe tried to push himself up. “Jess, we—" his voice was cut off with a gasp of pain. He froze and wrapped a protective arm around his abdomen. 

“Don’t be dumb, Poe,” Jess said. She pushed him back down onto the couch. “Slow down. You have broken ribs. We don’t need to do anything tonight.”

Poe winced. “Yeah. Kinda forgot about those.”

“And that’s exactly why we’re waiting until morning to talk about _anything_ serious.”

“Who put you in charge?” Poe muttered as he nestled down into the couch. “I outrank you.”

“For now.” Jess chuckled. “Sleep, Poe.”

“Or what, you’ll drug me again?”

Jess’s lips quirked. “If I have to.”

“Rude,” Poe said, but he could feel his eyelids falling closed again. 

“We’ll deal with all of it when we get home. I promise. Now go to sleep.”

“But I’m not going home,” Poe murmured tiredly. The words slipped out before Poe realized what he had said. As soon as he did, though, panic caused his breath to catch in his throat—he had been so careful to not tell Jess what he was planning on doing. He hadn’t told her anything: not about General Organa, not about leaving the NRDF, not that Iolo and Karé were going with him, and not about joining the Resistance. And while it had killed him not to tell her, he had convinced himself that it was for her own good. But in a moment of exhaustion, he almost let it slip. He glanced at Jess, but she didn’t seem to suspect his words had any meaning beyond an exhausted man’s ramblings.

She smiled and rolled her eyes. “You want to argue semantics right now? Fine. We’ll deal with it when we get back to base, alright? Now close your eyes. You need your rest.”

“What about you?” he asked groggily. “You should sleep, too.”

“I’ll get the cot out. I’ll be right here next to you.”

“Promise?”

Jess smiled and put her hand on his cheek. “Always for you.”

“Always for you,” Poe repeated and let sleep pull his eyes closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So TBH, I'm a little concerned I stole the religion Jess references (Doranthray) from someone else on AO3. It feels vaguely familiar and I'm not sure if it's because I came up with it or because I read it a while ago and my subconscious is incorporating it now. If I did steal it and you recognize it as yours or someone else's, please let me know! 
> 
> Still figuring out if we're gonna be at 20 or 21 chapters, but we're close to the end. 
> 
> And I have three more stories that are equally far along: one is an Academy-Era Jess and Karé adventure, one an Academy-Era Jess and Poe adventure, and one is a Resistance-Era Jess and Poe adventure. (I work on them when I get stuck or have a new idea that doesn't work here.) Opinions on which one you'd want to see first?


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

Jess woke the next morning with a start, but that wasn’t exactly new to her. She couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t gone from asleep to fully awake when there hadn’t been alcohol or medication involved—slavery followed by the military would do that to a person’s internal clock. Her memory caught up with her state of wakefulness with sudden thoughts of _Niv! Poe!_ before she forced herself to relax, knowing she wouldn’t have fallen asleep if they weren’t safe. The ceiling above her took longer to place than normal before Jess remembered that she was in Teela’s home on Llanic.

Weak light filtered through the window, giving everything in the room a soft glow. The cot tempted her to stay longer, but Jess knew that she wouldn’t fall back asleep now. The chrono on the wall read 6:53—past the time she normally got up when on base. She rolled off the cot and stood, stretching out all of the knots in her back before she checked on Poe. He was still fast asleep on the couch, but the dark circles under his eyes were less pronounced than they had been the night before and the lines between his brows had faded. She gently touched his curls to remind herself that he was real before she grabbed her bag and stepped into the ‘fresher.

Twenty minutes later, she emerged freshly showered and in the first clean clothes she’d put on since leaving Arkanis. She felt human again.

“Good morning,” Teela greeted from the kitchen.

“Morning,” Jess said.

“I’m surprised you’re awake so early.”

“Wish I wasn’t,” Jess muttered.

“Caf?”

“So much caf. Please.” Jess sat at the table near the kitchen. Teela’s flat was small—one main room that served as both her kitchen and living room, two small bedrooms, and a ‘fresher. But it was clean and safe. And it was the closest thing to a home Jess had had in a long time. Teela sat the mug of caf in front of her.

“Thanks,” Jess said and wrapped her hands around the mug. “How did you sleep?”

“Just fine, thank you,” Teela said and sat down with her. “You?”

“That cot is awful. But I wasn’t about to put Niv or Poe on it,” Jess grinned. The cot was an ongoing joke between them and had been for years.

“You could buy a new one,” Teela responded as she always did.

“I might,” Jess said. In all the years they had done this dance, she had never purchased a new cot. “We talked a lot about me last night but I didn’t ask about you. How are you doing?”

“I’m just fine, Jessika,” Teela smiled. “Just fine.”

“He hasn’t…?”

“No,” Teela shook her head. “Sveen hasn’t found me. You did good.”

“Good.” Jess took a sip of her caf. “Are you working?”

“I’m a translator at the hospital.”

“Don’t they have protocol droids to do that?”

“Some beings prefer a more…organic approach. And very few can speak Sullustan as well as I can.”

Jess nodded. “I believe that.”

“I’m also training to be a medic.”

“You’ll be good at that. Do you have any friends?”

“A few,” Teela smiled. “Are you checking up on me?”

“Maybe a little.”

“You’d know more about my life if you came to visit more often. Or even if you called occasionally.”

Jess groaned. “I know. I’m sorry.” 

“You’ve been busy,” Teela said with a nod towards the couch.

“That’s a shit excuse and we both know it.”

“Maybe,” Teela shrugged.

“I’ll do better. Promise.”

“I hope so.” Teela nodded and stood, “I need to go to work.”

“Of course. Do we need to leave?”

“No. Stay as long as you need, Jessika. I mean it. I’m glad you’re here.” The Bothan gently stroked Jess’s hair before moving to the door. “Help yourself to whatever you need. We’ll talk more when I get home.”

Jess raised her caf in salute as the woman made her way out the door. Once she was gone, the flat fell back into the early morning quiet. Jess pulled her datapad out of her bag and flicked through messages: deleting ones that didn’t matter, filing ones that did, and responding as necessary to the others. Some personal messages were in the mix including a few from Iolo and Karé checking in, a handful of well wishes to her and her family from her squadmates and former instructors concerning their ‘family emergency’, and the majority from Admiral Antilles and Commander Wexley demanding an explanation for what ‘emergency family leave’ meant for her. She ignored those for now: she’d see them soon enough and could definitely wait to be yelled at in person rather than via hologram.

The hiss of a door sliding open alerted Jess to Niv’s presence. “Hey,” she greeted as he stepped out of the guest room. She powered down her datapad and looked up at her friend. “How are you feeling?”

Niv smiled. “Better.”

“Glad to hear it. You definitely look a lot better.”

“I’ll probably fade out again sometime this afternoon, but I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow. Where’s, uh…?”

“Teela?” Jess offered.

“Yeah. I wasn’t a very polite guest last night. Did I even introduce myself?”

“You didn’t, but then again neither did Poe. She’s dealt with me for years, so she understands, I promise. As for where she is, she went to work. She’ll be back later and you can introduce yourself then,” Jess said. “Caf?”

“Please.”

Jess poured another cup and offered it to him. Niv gratefully took the cup and inhaled deeply. “What were you working on?” he asked with a nod to her datapad.

“Just looking at messages. Apparently, I should be preparing for my upcoming court-martial. Standard stuff.”

Niv spluttered into his caf. “What? Court-martial? I didn't get any messages like that.”

“Kidding! Mostly,” Jess said. “I hope. I dunno. You're probably fine. Antilles is probably just pissed at me personally.”

"Did he say 'court-martial' specifically?" 

"No. Read between the lines for that one." 

Niv hummed noncommittally. “How’s Dameron?” he asked.

Jess nodded over to the couch where Poe was still sleeping. “He’s alright. Woke up for a little last night, but fell back asleep pretty quickly.”

“Did you drug him again?”

Jess laughed quietly. “No, this is natural.” She nodded her head to the balcony door. “Come on.”

Niv followed Jess out onto the balcony and sat down at the table.

“You sure you’re good?” Jess asked as she took her seat.

“I’m fine,” Niv said and stretched. “Sunlight feels good.”

“Yeah,” Jess nodded and took a drink of her caf.

“How do you know someone here?” Niv asked. “Llanic isn’t exactly a vacation destination.”

Jess opened her mouth, only to close it again.

“More secrets,” Niv sighed. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to tell me.”

“Niv—” Jess started.

“Jess. It’s fine. I mean…I’m so curious it’s killing me. And I wish you’d tell me. But I’m not an idiot. I’ll quit bugging you about it. Whatever the explanation is, you don’t want to give it. So I’ll stop asking. It doesn’t matter. You deserve to keep your secrets. And I trust you.”

Jess let out a half-laugh. “No. I’ll tell you. After this past week, you deserve to know.”

“Don’t tell me because you feel indebted or whatever.”

“No. No, I want to tell you,” she sighed. “Just…don’t…don’t think of me any differently, ok?”

“Why would I think of you any differently?”

Jess raised her eyebrows at him before turning her gaze over the city. “When I was eight, my family was coming home from a trip. We were on Zerm, I think? I don’t really remember. My clearest memories of that trip are of rainforests and flowers and colorful birds. It was out near Kessel. We…we were commandeered by pirates. They took us from our ship and threw us in a cell headed to Pensar—do you know where that is?” she asked. Niv shook his head. “It’s in the Outer rim. Not…not really a place respectable people go, you know? They took us there for a slave auction. Sold us all off.” Jess took a deep breath. She kept staring straight ahead; she didn’t think she could manage to look at Niv right now. “I was small and had shown a propensity for working with my hands. I was bought by a Clawdite pod racer from Tatooine—Fässu something or other. He kept me for a few months before he sold me to another racer, a human woman named Lethe. She wasn’t a racer herself, but a race investor—she paid for a racer to be in the races and then made her money betting on or against him. She would make me sabotage other racer’s ships. This one time, I got caught by a racer. He threatened to turn me in until he saw the tattoo on my arm. He said he’d buy me from Lethe and then free me.”

“What happened?” Niv whispered.

Jess scoffed. “I was so young and naïve. And hopeful. I believed him. But then he was killed in the race. I don’t know how she found out about it, but she knew somehow and had her racer crash into him. A few weeks later, I let myself get caught again. I thought maybe they would be the same—would want to help me,” she laughed darkly. “The racer who caught me dragged me back to Lethe and demanded that she punish me and pay him back for the damage I’d done to his speeder. She refused to pay but offered to give me to him instead. He accepted. My new owner,” Jess swallowed thickly, “his name was Sveen. He was a Sullustan and lived on his ship—didn’t have a home anywhere to my knowledge. We didn’t ever land. When he wanted to race, he’d take a shuttle with his speeder down to the planet, but never stayed. I was with him for about six months, I think. I didn’t see sunlight that entire time. I barely saw the stars.”

Jess could feel Niv’s stare, but couldn’t look at him. She knew that if she did, she wouldn’t be able to finish.

“One day, there was an engine malfunction at a race. He lost and he blamed me,” Jess continued, doing everything in her power to keep her voice neutral. “He almost killed me that night. Left me in the storage room for days afterward. Teela,” she nodded her head back towards the flat, “is the only reason I survived after that beating. She did all she could to make sure I didn’t die there.”

“Was she also his slave?”

Jess nodded. “Yeah. Um…so by the time I could move on my own again, he’d decided to sell me. Took a few weeks, but he eventually sold me to a Zygerrian. She was a queen or something—whatever she was, she didn’t really care one way or the other about me. I never saw her after she purchased me—she just left me in the slave quarters. I was still so young—maybe 10?—that she saw me as an easy investment: buy me for a song, heal me up, and sell me for a profit. She ended up selling me to a Togrutan man. I never learned his name. He didn’t know what he was doing; thought he’d try to break into the racing scene and started building his crew—complete with a pit slave. He kept me in his racing garage for like a week before his wife found out and demanded that he sell me. The next day, he sold me to Gloarten. He was a Devaronian racer who wanted someone small who could reach inside engines and crawl through maintenance tubes and whatever. He was a bastard, but by then, that wasn’t new. I was about twelve when he realized I could race. That I had the nerve and the reflexes to do it. And I was still small—lighter ships fly faster. So he offered a deal: if I won 5 million credits, I could buy my freedom.”

“So you did,” Niv said softly.

Jess nodded slowly. “Yeah. So I did. I won the money and got myself out.” She pushed up her sleeve to show two round tattoos on her forearm: one a stylized Starbird and the other a series of dashes and dots that Niv recognized immediately. “Not without a permanent memory of my time in the trade, though.”

Niv gently ran his fingertips over the tattoo. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“This wasn’t your fault,” Jess replied.

“Wasn’t yours either,” Niv inhaled deeply. “How long?”

“With Gloarten? About six years. Was I a slave? Eight in total.”

“Sheeeeit.” Niv’s exclamation was soft but no less stunned for the lack of volume.

Jess waited for some kind of platitude from Niv, but he didn’t say anything. “What, no comment on being able to imagine it?”

“No. Cause I can’t imagine it. I don’t want to even try,” he said softly. “I wasn’t there.”

Jess looked curiously at Niv. “Not everyone says that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Usually, I get some kind of cliché. I appreciate your honesty.” She took a sip of her now cold caf and grimaced before she put it back down. “Is there anything else you want to know?”

“How did you get to the Academy?”

Jess smirked. “After I won my freedom, I started racing on my own. Did pretty well, too. Then one day I got caught in an illegal race. Antilles was there and made me a deal: he said I could attend the Academy instead of going to prison.”

“Shit.”

Jess laughed. “That’s fair.”

“That explains so much about the first six months I knew you.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. I was so intimidated by you.”

“Really? You’re the only one who came near me for ages.”

“That’s cause everyone was scared of you.”

“That doesn’t explain why you talked to me, though.”

“Self-preservation isn’t my strongest suit,” Niv grinned. “And you seemed interesting, if terrifying.”

“I’m gonna take that as a compliment: interesting, if terrifying.” 

Niv chuckled. “So how many other people know about all of this?”

“A few. You can probably guess who.”

“Dameron? Antilles? Wexley?”

Jess nodded. “And Kun. Muran...Muran knew, too, before he died. And Antilles demanded I go to a psytech for my first year at the Academy, so they know as well. It wasn’t part of the original deal, but he was pretty insistent. It’s, ah, also apparently in my file. Which Hux somehow got. So I don’t know who else knows.”

“Wait, what? Hux got your file?”

“When I was in Engineering. He got a file about me sent to him. He knew everything. I’m gonna dig into _that SNAFU_ when we’re back on base.”

“I’ll help you,” Niv offered. “So what happened after you won your freedom but before you came to the Academy? You said you won your freedom at about 16 and you started the Academy at 20, so what happened in between?”

“Well, like I said, I kept racing. A lot. Traveled the galaxy. And figured out how to take care of myself and survive. Being a 16-year-old girl by yourself out in the black, you pick up skills quickly and learn how to adapt them to your needs. Learn how to vanish in a crowd, how to manipulate situations to your advantage while not letting anyone take advantage of you, and how to hold your own in a fight. But then, as previously mentioned, I got caught. And then Antilles happened and now…I’m here.”

“Wow,” Niv said. “That’s…wow.”

“Wow good or wow bad?”

“Good. Definitely good.” Niv said. “So that’s why you know all of that stuff. Blending into your surroundings, boosting speeders, street fighting—” (Jess laughed at that one) “—collecting information, and whatever the hell else you can do?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Jess shrugged. “You stay alive as a slave by being able to disappear and not be seen, but also knowing what’s coming next. You learn to listen closely and learn new things when they’re demanded of you. And then you learn how to fight when your life depends on it. And what’s weird is that you do the same thing when you’re living outside of the law. So even after I was free, all of those skills got refined. I don’t really think about it like that now, though, you know? It’s just a part of my skill set.”

Niv nodded and looked at Jess, weighing his question before he spoke. Eventually, he asked, “Will you tell me more about Teela?”

Jess smiled. “Teela did her best to protect me while I was with Sveen. She’s the only other slave or person that ever gave a damn about me during that time in my life. She taught me how to treat my own injuries so that when she wasn’t there, I could take care of myself. When I won my freedom, I saved all of the credits I could from my race winnings. After I saved enough, I found her and bought her freedom from Sveen. Then I set her up here. I paid for this apartment and most of the stuff in it. I felt like I owed her, you know? So I hid her away from Sveen and let her have a life again.”

“She saved your life, so you saved hers.”

“Something like that. It wasn’t purely altruistic, though. I wasn’t that good of a person at seventeen.”

“You used this place as a safe house, didn’t you?”

“How’d you guess?”

“It’s pretty damn close to the hangar. Easy to get to or make a quick getaway from. And you set her up on an outer-rim planet, where most of the illegal stuff happens.”

“You’re catching on,” Jess said with a wink. “Yeah. I used to come here a lot when I was racing. It was a good stopover when I needed to disappear. She’s…she’s the closest thing I’ve had to a mom in years.”

“Did you ever look for…” Niv’s voice trailed off. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Look for my real mom?” Jess finished. “Yeah. Yeah, of course I did. I looked for all three of them: my mom, my dad, my sister. But after their initial sales, I couldn’t find any record of them. The trail went cold. Shockingly, people who participate in the illegal slave trade don’t always keep the best records.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me, too,” Jess whispered. The two sat quietly and watched the city come to life. Speeders of all colors and models zipped down the roadways and people of all species walked from place to place, going about their days.

“So…that’s it? That’s your big secret?” Niv said eventually.

“What?” Jess asked, unsure of what she’d heard.

“That’s your secret? That you were a slave?” Niv asked again.

“Um…yeah. I guess?” Jess didn’t really understand Niv’s seemingly cavalier response.

Niv considered what she’d said for a second before he nodded. “Alright.”

Jess raised an incredulous eyebrow. “You’re making this seem like it’s not a big deal at all to you.”

“Should it be?” Niv asked.

“I mean, maybe? What—was it not dramatic enough for you?”

“Oh, it was plenty dramatic. And I’m so sorry it happened to you. And it is a big deal because you got hurt and I hate that. But you really thought it was a big enough deal that it would make me change how I think about you?” Niv pressed on.

“Yeah. I…I didn’t want you thinking I was fragile or whatever.”

“Jess,” Niv let out a laugh, “damn, you’re tougher than I ever knew. You survived all that and then decided to become a starfighter pilot? If people knew that, they’d be insane to cross you.”

“Thanks, I think?” Jess grinned.

“Pava, you’re not fragile at all. And anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.”

“Solidly not the answer I was expecting.” Jess laughed. “So for real: nothing’s changed between us?”

“I might think you’re more badass than I did before, which is saying something because you already were like, a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10 of badass-ness,” Niv grinned. “But nah, nothing’s changed. Will you make me a deal, though?”

“What do you want?”

“If there’s ever something that feels like it’s too much…something that hits too close to home with all of that…you’ll tell me? You’ll let me help?”

Jess nodded. “Deal.”

“Good.” Niv smiled and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed. “Good.”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you before,” Jess said.

“Thanks for telling me now.”

The two sat in comfortable silence until the door behind them opened. A tired but very much alive Poe Dameron stepped out to join them on the balcony.

“Well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence,” Jess grinned.

“Morning Commander,” Niv greeted as he sat up in his chair.

“Hey guys,” Poe smiled tiredly. “Can’t tell you how good it is to see you. And sunlight. I missed it.”

“I believe that,” Jess said. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I was held prisoner in a blackout cell by the First Order.”

“Well you were, so that sounds about right,” Niv said.

Poe made eye contact with Jess, silently asking her to talk alone.

“Niv, could you, ah…” Jess started.

Niv stood, understanding what Jess was trying to ask. “Read you loud and clear, Pava. Not a problem. I’ll go shower.” He put his hand on Poe’s shoulder as he passed. “I’m glad you’re alright, Dameron.”

“Thanks, Lek. And thanks for coming after me.”

“Of course. You’re welcome,” Niv said and slid past Poe and into the apartment. Poe sank into Niv’s vacated chair.

When they were alone, Jess looked her friend over. “You do look better,” she said. “Marginally.”

“Thanks, Testor. I feel marginally better, too.” Poe huffed a laugh. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back as if to absorb as much sunlight as possible. “Where are we? All you said last night was ‘someplace safe.’”

“I’m impressed you remember that. This is Llanic. We’re at Teela’s apartment—it’s safe here.”

“Why, though?”

“Needed to hide out for a few days until the heat from the First Order cools down a little. It seems they get a little upset when you crash a Star Destroyer. Who woulda guessed?”

“Hmm,” Poe hummed before his brain caught up with what Jess had said. He sat up straight, ignoring the ache in his ribs to turn and face Jess. “Wait. Did you just say Teela? Teela as in _Teela_ Teela?”

“Do you think something will change depending on how many times you say her name?” Jess asked bemusedly.

“No, I mean like…Teela from—”

“Sveen? Yeah. You know that I used her place as a safe house—that I came here a lot when I was racing and needed to avoid the NRSF. I know I’ve told you that before.”

“You did, I remember that. I just didn’t expect to ever actually _meet_ Teela, though. You’re pretty guarded when it comes to her.”

“I know. I want to keep her safe. The fewer people who know about her, the better. And honestly, I wouldn’t have brought you if there was another good choice.”

Poe nodded. “How did you explain her to Lek?”

“I told him the truth.”

“How much?”

“All of it.”

“Really?”

“I mean, he didn’t get all of the details—no one has the time or the emotional bandwidth for all that in one sitting. But yeah, he got the highlights.” She paused. “That’s not the right word for that.” Jess huffed a laugh.

“That’s definitely not the right word.”

“Whatever. He was weirdly unphased by it all. Like, ‘ok cool, pass the caf, please’ casual,” she imitated Niv’s accent.

“That’s surprising.”

“Right? Most people get really weird about it and he’s just like, totally normal about everything. Said it made me more of a badass, though, which I’m for.”

“Not that. Well, I mean…yeah, actually…that is kinda weird; he didn’t get weird about anything at all? And you are a total badass—but that’s beside the point. And that’s not what I meant. What I meant that I’m surprised that you told him.”

“Why?”

“You usually keep your past and people like Teela pretty close to the vest. Hell, I didn’t know any of it until your third year at the Academy.”

“The guy got on a ship, flew across the galaxy, and infiltrated a Star Destroyer to help me find you because I asked him to. Because he’s my friend. He’s earned my trust.”

“And have I mentioned how much I appreciate you doing that?”

Jess smirked. “Once or twice.”

“Good. Making sure you’re aware.”

The two fell back into a comfortable silence.

“How did you two find me, anyway?” Poe asked eventually.

“When you missed your check-ins with Karé, she and Iolo asked us to find you.”

Poe looked at Jess. “Karé and Iolo are behind this? They sent you?”

“Obviously. They’re your squadron and they just lost one friend. They weren’t about to lose another.”

Poe looked down, ashamed. “How long?”

“Were you gone? Today woulda been Day 12 since last contact.”

“So you shouldn’t have even come. The search should have been called off days ago.”

“Like I would leave you.”

“You broke protocol.”

“So did you.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Whatever. Screw protocol. When have I ever cared about protocol?”

Poe raised his eyebrows and angled his head in agreement. “Still. You shouldn’t have defied Command.”

“I didn’t really. We were doing this search off the books. I’m technically on Emergency Leave. _Family_ emergency.”

“Oh, so you also lied to Command?”

“Did I, though?” Jess raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, back to the incredible story of Niv and my fearless rescue of your dumb ass. So—Karé and Iolo knew you were going to go and nothing they said would stop you. But before you left, Iolo installed a tracer on your ship—"

“He did what?” Poe’s eyes went wide.

“Are you surprised with all the shit you pull? Don’t interrupt. So Iolo installed a tracer on your ship which meant we had a place to start,” Jess continued. “They also got us in touch with a bounty hunter who owed Norra Wexley a favor—and I am _dying_ to know that story, because how the hell does Commander Wexley know a Zabrak Bounty Hunter and why did she have a favor owed from said Bounty Hunter? Anyway, she got us to an Ugnaught who was working in one of the factories. We got him intel on where the First Order was keeping his family and he got us supply ship clearance codes to get onto the Star Destroyer. Once on board, we ran into Major Raffton and General Hux and…well, it went about as well as you’d expect.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. 

Poe’s eyes narrowed in concern and he reached out and grabbed her wrist. He turned her hand to inspect the cut on her palm. “What happened here?”

“Oh. Predator Droid.”

Poe’s eyes grew wide. “What?”

“We took care of it.”

“Why do I get the sense this is a heavily edited version of events?” he sighed.

“Cause it is,” Jess shrugged. She didn’t try to deny her self-imposed edits and flipped her hand over so she could hold Poe’s hand. “I’ll tell you the whole version when you’re healthy again.”

“Fine.” Poe groaned. “So you met Armitage Hux.”

“I did,” Jess confirmed. “Quite the charmer, though a bit of a narcissist if you ask me,” she said dryly. 

Poe tried to laugh but groaned at his jostled ribs. Jess leaned forward, concerned. Poe waved her off. “I’m fine, it’s just my ribs. Narcissist, eh? That’s one word for him,” he said breathily.

“Did he do this to you?” Jess motioned vaguely to all of him.

“Him or Stormtroopers under his orders, yeah,” Poe nodded.

Jess clenched her jaw and forced a controlled breath through her nose. “Bastard.”

Poe ran his fingers along the seam of the leather jacket he was still wearing. “So…this is your jacket?”

“In a sense.” 

Poe quirked an eyebrow at her. “Repeat that?”

Jess laughed. “We needed disguises. So…smuggler it was. I was kinda thinking about keeping it after this.”

“It’s a good jacket,” Poe agreed.

“So how did you end up with it?” 

“Hux showed me security video…it was you in a hallway somewhere. Or at least, I thought it might be you. I’d been in the blackout cell for a few days by then and things were getting distorted. You were wearing this jacket. I told him I didn’t know who you were, and he ordered someone to ‘dispose of the intruder.’ Sometime after that, he told me that…well, he came into the cell and threw this jacket at me and told me that you’d been killed. I could smell the blood and...look, Hux isn’t creative enough to have come up with that whole plot on his own. I thought you died. It _felt_ real, Jess.”

“That’s why you said I couldn’t be real…because Hux told you I was dead. And the jacket…”

“Seemed like confirmation of that. Yeah.”

Jess squeezed Poe’s hand. “We got away from the Arkanis Academy just fine. And when I ran into Hux on the Star Destroyer—he’s a terrible shot. Didn’t even come close to hitting me.” Poe still looked uncertain. “He lied, Poe. He’s a liar. I’m here. I’m alive. I’m fine.” 

Finally, Poe nodded. “So what happened? How did you run into him?”

“Niv needed to get into the computer to find where they were keeping you and to set up the self-destruct. He also needed me to go do some damage in Engineering and to keep Hux away. So on my way to Engineering, I distracted him. But,” she stretched her neck from side to side and groaned, “like everything else that happened on that Star Destroyer, that was a disaster. Had a bit of a lothcat-and-rat game in Engineering, which ended up in a standoff of sorts. Not really a fair fight if you ask me: I’m a much better shot.”

“Did you kill him?” he asked after a moment.

“Who?”

“Hux.”

“Oh,” Jess sat quietly. She stared at the city and listened to Poe’s breathing—confirmation that he was alive and next to her—before she answered. She looked at him before she looked away. There was no way she could answer that question honestly while meeting his open gaze. “I wanted to. I almost did. After seeing what he did to you, I should have,” she whispered, “but no.”

“Why not?”

Jess looked back at Poe and gave a thin smile. Poe waited patiently as she sorted out what she would say. “He has spies on Hosnian Prime, you know,” she started. 

“What? Who? How do you know?”

“I don’t know who, but he told me.”

“He told you?”

Jess huffed a laugh. “Yeah. He talks too much, gives too much away. It’s a terrible problem for a conspirator to have. He thought he had me trapped. Thought he had the upper hand and it made him overconfident. He didn’t think I’d live long enough to share the information—he thought he’d kill me in that engine room. Said as much, even.”

“Surprise.” Poe twirled a finger in mock celebration.

“Seriously,” Jess flashed a grin. “Anyway, he said he has sources on the inside like senators and aides, even people in the NRDF. And I wouldn’t have believed him, except for that in real-time, he found out what pilots were off base and matched it to some image he got of me from somewhere. I’m guessing from that same security feed he showed you. But the point is that he acquired a file or something. He knew everything about me,” she said softly. “That I’m Dandoran, that I was a slave, that Antilles got me into the Academy, my service record, about my family…all of it.”

“Damn. I’m sorry, Jess. That’s all supposed to be classified.”

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s not, obviously, but…someone would have eventually found out somehow,” she brushed it off. “And it wasn’t like I didn’t have my own arsenal of information to fire back with. Bounty Hunters are a wealth of knowledge.”

“Who in Republic City would have access to that kind of information?” Poe asked.

“You get high enough in the chain of Command and who wouldn’t? He could have a Vice Admiral in his pocket or someone else from Command. Maybe an Imperial Sympathizing Senator or an aide with too much access?” Jess shook her head. “Honestly, it could be anyone. It could be everyone. And on some level, it doesn’t matter who it is. What matters is he can know who we are and how to find us—he can find our private records and figure out how to get to us,” she sighed. “He used what he knew to try and taunt me.” she paused. “Well, he tried to taunt me, and then he tried to bribe me. He tried to get me to join the First Order.”

“He did what?” Poe said as he tried to sit forward and let out a groan of pain.

“Relax, Dameron. Stop jostling those ribs if you want them to heal properly. Yeah. Apparently, I’d been on their radar for a while, but Antilles got to me first. Still, he basically offered me an Admiralship, a customized TIE fighter, stability, power…” she hesitated and let go of Poe’s hand. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to confess her moment of weakness to Poe: to let him know how close she had been to being swayed by Hux’s offer and then for him to try to comfort her like she knew he would. _But he deserves to know_ , she thought. “And he offered to find my family.”

“Your family?” Poe whispered.

Jess folded her hands in front of her and looked down before letting out a shaky breath and looking back at the horizon. She could feel her knee bouncing, but couldn’t stop it. “He said the First Order has resources that the New Republic doesn’t. He told me that if I joined the FO, they’d find out what happened to them.” She hesitated, about to tell Poe that Hux had told herwhat had happened to her father, but decided not to. _Not right now,_ she told herself, _not when we just got him out of Hux’s grasp. There will be time for that later._

“Jess…”

“I know. I know,” Jess shook her head. “I didn’t believe him. But it was tempting…for a moment.”

“What did you do?”

She grinned. “I put on my ‘prickly armor’, as you’ve called it before, and thought _‘What would Poe Dameron do?’_. Then I did that.”

“A horrible idea.” Poe deadpanned.

“It worked.” she laughed.

“So what did you do that I would do?”

“I asked about the First Order’s dental plan.”

“No you didn’t,” he gawked.

“Swear I did,” Jess grinned. “And their vacation policy.”

Poe chuckled. “Living up to the name, Testor.” 

“Always,” Jess smirked. “I got him so flustered, he made a mistake and opened himself up for a shot.”

“But you didn’t take it.”

“Oh, no. I shot him. I _absolutely_ shot him. Please. Like I _wouldn’t_ take that shot. I just didn’t _kill_ him.”

“But if you had the shot, why didn’t you kill him?”

“Because of something he said to me,” she said. “He said something like, _‘But you’re actually good, aren’t you? Not a good person, because how could you be with a past like yours? But you are a good soldier. One who can kill without hesitation.’_ And it got to me.” 

Poe waited for Jess to continue, but when the silence stretched on, he spoke. “You’ve killed before. Shot down ships in dogfights. Why was this different?”

“I dunno. Pulling the trigger wasn’t the problem. It was shooting _him_ that was. I couldn’t help but think: if I shot him—killed him there—would I be proving his point? That I can’t be good because I’m a product of my past? So when I had him in my sights, I didn’t take the kill shot. I incapacitated him instead. Because I won’t be who he thinks I am,” she tried to smile, but it came off more like a grimace. “I don’t want you to report me to Command because you think I’ll hesitate to take the shot when I’m in the cockpit. Cause I won’t. But this time…I needed him to know that he’s alive because _I chose_ not to kill him.” 

Poe watched her carefully as she told him what had happened. “You are good, Jess. You are so good.”

“I’m trying to be.”

“You are,” Poe said and took her hand again, giving it a gentle squeeze. “So what happened to him?”

“I shot him in the shoulder. When I got to him, he tried to monologue or whatever. Totally a ‘super evil villain in a holovid’ trope. So I stunned him and left him in Engineering.”

“You just left him there?”

Jess grinned. “Well, yeah. I mean, we took the Destroyer down, though, so…maybe they got him out? Guess we’ll see if he turns up again.”

“Guess we will.” Poe reached up and touched the _qukuuf_ tattoos on her face. “What about these? Are they permanent?” he asked.

“No,” she shook her head. “Some kind of semi-permanent ink that Karé found. She and Iolo set this whole thing up: everything from the ship to stocking the medkit and pantry to our disguises and fake chaincodes. If someone really broke protocol, it was them. Anyway, she says she has the stuff to remove the tattoos when we get back. I’m not so sure about that, so the jury’s out on how long I’ll have them for,” she grinned. “I’m giving it 50/50 that they’ll come off as easily as she says they will.”

“Sounds about right,” Poe said with a half-smile and let his hand fall from her face.

“What happened to you?” Jess asked. “I mean…how…what…”

Poe laughed. “Yeah. I get what you’re asking. Sadly, I don’t have a big adventure to share like you. I was doing some recon inside the old Arkanis Academy when I got caught. Hux took me to the Star Destroyer, put me in the blackout cell, and…well, used general enhanced interrogation techniques. Like I said before, Hux isn’t that creative when it comes to getting intel from a prisoner: sensory deprivation, distortion of time, lack of food and water, physical beatings—pretty standard stuff.”

“Torture isn’t standard, Dameron.” 

Poe tilted his head in acknowledgment. “The only thing that really got to me was when I thought you were dead. That’s when I thought I might actually die there. I think until then, part of my mind was holding out for you to come bursting through the door to break me out.”

“Glad I didn’t disappoint,” Jess grinned. 

Poe tried to laugh, but instead sighed and stared blankly across the horizon.

“Hey…what’s going on in your head?” Jess asked softly.

“When I was little,” Poe began, bringing his gaze back to Jess, “after my mom died, I asked my dad if he ever got scared during the Rebellion, back when he was a Pathfinder. He told me that what he was afraid of then isn’t what scares him now.”

“So what scares him now?” Jess asked, unsure where Poe was going with this.

“He said that he’s afraid that it was all for nothing,” Poe replied softly. “And after all of this, I can’t help but be afraid of the same thing.” He turned to look at his friend. “Jess…what happened with Muran….that’s just the beginning. It’s going to happen again. You’ve seen the same things I have: the First Order is real. It’s a threat. And they’re going to keep getting stronger.”

“You don’t just mean a pilot dying, do you?” Jess murmured. “You mean open war,” she scoffs. “You’ve meant war since before you even left Hosnian Prime. And I didn’t believe you.”

Poe nodded. “Yes.”

“You tried to warn me. And I didn’t listen. I thought you were overreacting, being overly dramatic.”

Poe grinned weakly. “It’s been known to happen before.”

“Sorry I wasn’t a great friend.”

“I told you before, Testor…we’re good.”

“Poe, I promise, whatever comes next: I’ll listen. I’ll believe you. I’ll follow you,” Jess swore.

“Thanks, Jess,” Poe whispered. He worried that he was doing the wrong thing by not telling her about the Resistance, but he ignored it. He was sure that not telling her was for the best.

The two lapsed into silence, the heaviness of their conversation pushing the rest of the world away. Poe closed his eyes and turned his face back to the sun. The rays of light seemed to help erase the lines from his face. He looked peaceful for the first time since he’d come back from the Mirrin sector. Jess committed the scene to memory: moments like this were what made the fight worth it.

Jess wasn’t sure how long had passed when Niv opened the door.

“Am I interrupting anything?” he asked.

“Nope, you’re good,” Jess grinned. “What’s up?”

“Are you two hungry? I’m starving and, if it’s ok with our host, I would love to eat something that’s not a ration bar or a Pizo stick.”

“I’m starving,” Poe said and carefully levered himself up.

“Flyboys. Always thinking with your stomachs.” Jess laughed.

“I was just held captive by the First Order for over two weeks,” Poe defended himself. “I’m allowed.”

“And I…well, I should have gone first. Cause the First Order thing beats all other excuses. But I just came off a crash from stims. Which—I’m aware—isn’t anywhere near as dramatic as his excuse, but still,” Niv added.

Jess shook her head and pushed herself out of her seat. “Fine. Let’s go find you some food before you resort to cannibalism. That is paperwork I really don’t want to fill out when we get home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...well, what did you think? 
> 
> Due to the length of this chapter, we're officially gonna be at 21 chapters. It got too long and the other part just didn't fit in how I wanted it to.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

Jess had never been particularly talented in the kitchen. Even as a child, she’d struggled under the tutelage of her mother and, rather than be underfoot, had often been sent to the garage to help her father with the ships. After being ripped away from her home, she’d never been given or sought the opportunity to improve her culinary skills. Fortunately, Jess found Instant Yobshrimp Noodles in the conservator—the preparation of which was definitely at her skill level. It was odd to find this particular instant meal in Teela’s house: she had told Jess on many occasions how much she detested yobshrimp, but it had always been one of Jess’s favorites.

Soon after eating a real meal, Poe excused himself for a shower, and Niv, still feeling the comedown from the stims, retreated to the guestroom. Poe didn’t fare much better and fell asleep shortly after his shower.

While they slept, Jess repacked the medkit, sorted all of her gear in her go-bag, and finished the dishes from lunch before she realized that she had nothing else to do. She could reply to Antilles, but that seemed like a terrible idea, so instead, she considered reading her holonovel or pulling up a holodrama. When she went to grab her datapad, though, the small, crystalline datacube caught her eye.

She grabbed the cube and the data reader from her bag and settled down at the table. She connected the reader to her datapad and started sliding through files until she found what she was after.

Brendol Hux’s files were a collection of school records, student files (with special attention paid to those who Hux believed would be assets to the Commandant’s Cadets), military plans, training regiments, incoherent proposals, and rambling manifestos. At best, the files were mundane and typical—exactly what she would expect a school Commandant to have. At worst, they were evidence of a twisted and unhinged mind that was a dedicated follower of Emperor Palpatine.

“What are you doing?” Poe asked.

Jess jumped. She had been so absorbed with trying to make sense of Hux’s incomprehensible writings she hadn’t heard Poe wake up. “Shit, you scared me. Um, hey. Didn’t hear you wake up.”

“Sorry. Where’s Lek?” Poe asked as he stretched.

“Sleeping. You both passed out as soon as you had food and a shower.”

“And you didn’t?”

“Never been a good napper.”

“That’s too bad. It was a good nap,” Poe said with a sleepy grin.

“I bet,” Jess chuckled. “Sleep as much as you need, man. You’ve had a rough couple of weeks.”

“I’m good for now. What are you doing?” Poe asked again and pushed himself upright on the couch.

“When we were at the Arkanis Academy, we stole a whole database of information. Threw it on a cube,” Jess said. “With you two asleep, I got bored. So I started digging through it.”

“And you’re looking at it on a datapad?”

Jess shrugged. “Kinda sucks, but I can read it.”

Poe pulled up a chair next to her and looked at the small screen. “Anything interesting?”

“Yeah, actually. There was a whole assortment of files and documents from Brendol Hux. I’m going through one of those right now. It’s like a…journal, maybe? Magnum opus might be the phrase he would have used for it. A lot’s been redacted, but…the man was sick.”

“What makes you say that?”

Jess swiped to an earlier page. “’ _The Empire must be fertile and young. Children are crucial to our success. Many of our officers are old. We need that kind of vitality. That brand of energy you get with the young. The Empire needs children,’”_ she read aloud.

“Shit.”

“Yeah. There are huge rambling sections that make no sense, and then he goes into excruciating detail about  Stormtrooper regiments and training programs. He also has sections about the Commandant’s Cadets and what he had them do and how he would _improve_ the program,” Jess sighed and stretched. “It’s disjointed and confusing at best and absolute nonsense at worst. But that phrase…it’s stuck with me.”

“What do you think that means? _The Empire needs children,_ ” Poe asked.

“No idea,” Jess said. “But it sounds bad. Maybe some kind of like, _incentive_ program for Empire supporters to have kids? Increase the population of First Order supporters? That doesn’t make sense, I know, but what else would they need children for?”

“Child soldiers?” Poe suggested.

“Yeah, cause they definitely have child-size Stormtrooper armor,” Jess muttered. “I don’t know…that just seems unlikely to me. I don’t really see the First Order taking care of kids very well, you know?”

“Definitely not.” Poe huffed a laugh. “Can we forget I said that? I hate that idea.”

“Me, too.”

“What are you gonna do with the cube?”

“I’ll give it to Antilles when we get back. Let him decide where to take it. I’d guess Command is gonna want to give it to Intelligence, but who knows.”

“Hopefully they’ll actually do something,” Poe said bitterly.

“Poe,” Jess sighed. “I…I don’t know what you want or need me to say.”

“The First Order killed Muran. He was too good a pilot for an unfortunate accident. I know it. You know it. And they know it. But they won’t do anything. What makes you think they’ll actually do anything with this?” he gestured at the datapad.

“I trust Antilles and Wexley. And Ematt and Statura. They’ll take it to the right people. And I’m gonna trust that whoever they give it to will do what needs to be done. Between this and all that we know from the _Revenant,_ how could they not? How could they ignore us? Ignore this?”

Poe shook his head and looked away. “I don’t trust Command. Not anymore.”

“They’re the good guys, Poe.”

“Are they?”

“We work for them. If they’re not the good guys, what are we?”

“Pawns.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“It’s the truth.”

“It’s our job, Poe! Are you telling me you’re gonna quit? Gonna leave because they didn’t foresee Muran’s death and aren’t plunging headfirst into war as retaliation? You know Command doesn’t work like that!”

“Really Jess? _They don’t work like that?_ Cause it sounds to me like you’re choosing to be blind, to be naïve to what’s going on around you. Seems to me that you’d rather ignore what’s happening in the galaxy and the hurt the First Order has caused than to actually _do something_ about it,” Poe growled. “You’re choosing to be complicit in a failing system for your own self-preservation. Supporting the status quo that the NRDF is working under is indefensible and I can’t believe you’re trying to make excuses for—"

“Whoa, I’m gonna stop you right there before you say something you’ll really regret and that you can’t walk back from,” Jess cut him off. “Look, I know you’re angry. And I know you’re mourning, and you’re hurt. You can yell about the flaws of the NRDF all you want, but you are not going to take all this out on me,” she warned. “You are not going to lecture _me_ , of all people, about the hurt in the galaxy and about the damage the First Order causes. Especially not when I just risked _everything I have_ to save your life. That’s not how this is gonna go. Got it?”

Poe looked Jess in the eye and held her gaze, daring her to look away, but Jess refused to back down.

The hiss of the door sliding open interrupted them.

“Jessika?” Teela called from the door.

“Hey,” Jess greeted and looked away from Poe to look over to the Bothan. She turned off the datapad and slipped the datacube into her pocket. “Good day at work?”

“It was,” Teela said. She looked suspiciously between Jess and Poe as if she could see the tension between them. “Everything here alright?”

“We’re good,” Jess said tensely. Poe stood stiffly and made his way out to the balcony.

“Really? Everything’s good?” Teela asked as the door hissed shut. “Cause I heard raised voices.”

Jess rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. He’s fine. We just…need a minute.”

“Mmmhmm,” Teela said, side-eying Poe’s form outside the window.

“I saw that.”

“I’m just saying he could be a little more grateful for you risking your life to save his.”

“It’s…complicated. Don’t be too rough on him.”

“Oh, please. How complicated can it be?”

“Muran—the pilot who died? He wasn’t just Poe’s wingman. He was…I don’t know what to call them. I don’t think they knew what they were, either. But they were at the start of something…something good. And now he’s not only mourning the loss of a wingman, but also a friend, a romance, and maybe a future. So please. Just, be gentle.”

Teela sighed. “Fine. You gonna help me cook?” she asked, changing the subject.

“You know there’s a reason I was always in the maintenance bay and not the kitchen, right?” Jess grinned.

“Get your human butt over here,” Teela said.

Jess laughed and stood. “What do you need me to do?”

“Cut these.” She pointed towards a pile of vegetables. “Bitesize. And don’t cut your fingers.”

Jess rolled her eyes, but grabbed a knife and started cutting.

“Where’s the other one?”

“You mean Niv? Taking a nap, I think.”

“Stim comedown?”

“Yeah. It’s rough for him. But he said he should be good by tomorrow.”

Teela nodded and continued to season the meat in front of her.

“What are we making?”

“Kibi Strips with Kodari Rice.”

“Look at you, knowing your way around the kitchen,” Jess teased.

“After years of eating that crap that Sveen gave me, I wanted to learn how to make more. You could learn a thing or two about cooking, too.”

“NRDF feeds me just fine, as you oh-so-rudely pointed out.”

“And how will that help you when you’re on your own?”

“I'll order take-out.”

Teela rolled her eyes. “You’re useless.”

“Only in the kitchen,” Jess winked.

“What’s your plan?”

“We’ll be out of here tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to rush off.”

Jess sighed. “Yeah, we do. Poe needs a medical center and, if Antilles’ comms are to be believed, I might have a court martial to prepare for.”

“A court martial, eh? I thought you said this wasn’t illegal.”

“Semantics,” Jess shrugged. “What do I do with these?”

“Put them in this pot,” Teela instructed. “So why would you be court martialed?”

“It’s kind of a gray area. Technically, I’m on leave, so I didn’t disobey any orders by going after Poe. But I also very much disobeyed direct orders by engaging with the First Order and blowing up their Star Destroyer. And it _could_ be argued that I broke protocol by going after Poe when it had been more than seven days since last contact, but again, since I was on leave and didn’t use NRDF equipment, that’s a stretch.”

“Why does that matter?”

“After seven days, you’re classified as Missing in Action and all searches are called off.”

“But you still searched.”

“Yep.”

“Well, that does sound like your baseline. So the NRDF is mad that you were a good friend? I thought brotherhood or whatever was valued by them.”

“Good point,” Jess said, slicing down fiercely with the knife; taking out her aggression on the vivid orange vegetable in front of her.

“You do know that that tuber didn’t do anything to you?” Teela said gently.

“Sorry,” Jess slowed down and began cutting the vegetable more carefully. “I wish I could stay longer.”

“You’ll just have to come back.”

“Guess I will.” Jess finished chopping the rest of the vegetables and put them in the pot. She was about to ask Teela what to do next when she found herself staring out the door at Poe.

“Jessika? Jessika?” Teela said. Jess looked at the Bothan woman. “You with me?”

“Yeah. Yeah, sorry. Just…got distracted.”

Teela put her hands on her hips and gave a fondly exasperated sigh. “Go talk to him,” she nodded towards the door. “I’ve got this.”

“No. I’ll help. You’re hosting us and I can’t—”

“Get out there, Jessika.”

“You sure?”

“You’ll be annoying me and getting in my way if you keep looking off at him like that in here.”

“Fine. I’ll go,” Jess raised her hands in surrender and backed out of the kitchen.

Teela shook her head and turned back to the simmering pot.

Jess sighed and walked over to the door. She watched Poe for a moment through the glass. He was staring off into the distance, clenching and unclenching his jaw and hands. The tension was back in every line of his body—a sharp contrast from the peace she’d observed on him earlier. But that was Poe Dameron: emotions ran hot and fast through him and were visible across his entire body, no matter how hard he tried to control them. She tapped the panel and the transparasteel door hissed open.

As the door slid aside, Jess stepped out onto the balcony and crossed to stand next to Poe. She stood with her back against the railing so she could see Poe’s face, even though he was resolutely looking away from her.

Eventually, Jess broke the silence. “Are we actually fighting about this?” she asked. “Cause if we are, I’ve gotta be honest: I don’t really understand what _this_ is and why we’re fighting about it. And I’m not sure how exactly we went from talking about a datacube of First Order intel to you accusing me of being an apathetic and complicit cog in the machine.”

Poe let out a controlled breath before turning to face Jess. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It was low and cruel and totally undeserved. And wrong. I know that you don’t think like that. And I know it’s not your fault that Muran is gone. You shouldn’t have to deal with all of…this,” he gestured to himself. “It’s just that lately, sometimes it feels like I’m all alone with this. Like I’m screaming and no one is listening.”

“You’re not alone,” Jess said firmly. “I’m with you, Poe. All the way. Don’t doubt it for a second.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I know. I’m just…I’m so angry about Muran.”

“You’re mourning—going through the stages of grief and all. It’s normal,” Jess said and turned around to look out over the city.

“How do you know about that?”

“Antilles made me see a psytech during my first year, remember? You did, too, after Ibanjji. Talked all about loss and grief and anger and coping mechanisms. I probably have as many hours with Doc Evaan as I do in a cockpit,” Jess said.

“Seems unlikely.”

Jess ignored him. “But more than that, I get it. I know what it is to lose people. To have them taken from you.”

“I know you do,” he sighed. “I hate this. The anger, the frustration, the distrust—it’s not me. It feels like…the ground disappeared, you know?”

“I’ve not trusted the ground under my feet for a long time,” Jess whispered. Poe gave Jess a heartbroken look.

“How do you do it?” he asked.

“Do what?”

“All of it. Keep being _you_ after everything you’ve been through. How do you manage when you can’t trust the ground under your feet?”

“You make your own ground.”

“How?”

Jess considered the question for a moment. “You know I like learning about the Rebellion, right?”

“You mean do I know that you’re an absolute obsessed nerd about it? Yes.”

Jess ignored his taunt. “Do you know why?”

“No. Why?”

“When you’re a slave, staying alive and staying yourself is the ultimate act of rebellion. Odds are against you every step of the way, but you’re fighting for something. I related to the Rebels. Always have.” Jess paused.

“Where’s this going, Jess?”

“Stick with me. Do you remember the name Jyn Erso?”

“Uh…yeah, I think so. Helped get the Death Star plans, right? Rogue One?”

“Right. When I was like, eighteen—not too long before I met you, I was watching an old recording of the strategy session that took place right before she and the rest of Rogue One stole their ship and went off to Scarif. The Rebel Leadership wasn’t going to let them go: lots of despair and opinions about how the Death Star meant the end of the Rebellion. Erso disagreed and said ‘Rebellions are built on hope.’ And…I kinda adopted that as a life philosophy. The fact that I’m alive and a part of the NRDF is a rebellion against everything that has ever happened to me. And rebellions are built on hope, so I figure I have built my life on hope, too. I am who I am and how I am because I’m a stubborn rebel who refused to let go of a wild strand of hope.”

“Hope won’t bring Muran back,” Poe muttered.

“It won’t,” Jess agreed. “And I’m sorry that it can’t.”

“I miss him.” Tears stung Poe’s eyes. He hadn’t let himself cry about Muran until now. “You know we were…”

“Something. Yeah,” Jess nodded. “Something that made you happy.”

“We never defined it, you know? We just…were. And it felt right,” he took a shuddering breath. “It’s not fair that he died.” 

Jess reached over for Poe’s hand. “You’re right, it’s not,” Jess said softly. “And it sucks. But that’s why we do what we do, isn’t it? To try and bring some kind of fairness to the galaxy. We fight for the hope that things will be better because we can make them better.”

“I don’t trust Command has that goal in mind anymore,” Poe said.

“Why?”

“Why not?” he scoffed. “I don’t trust Command because they _know_ something’s happening and aren’t doing anything. They’re ignoring Muran’s death and just sitting on the sidelines.”

“Do you want to leave?” Jess asked. “The NRDF, I mean. Go join the Resistance or something?”

Poe bit his lip and held back from telling her _I’ve already decided to._ “Maybe,” he said.

“I’ll go with you,” Jess said quietly.

That broke Poe’s heart—her willingness to follow him anywhere. “Thanks,” he somehow managed with a steady voice. “But I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“Why?”

“Cause I can’t ask you to follow me when I wouldn’t follow myself.”

“Care to explain that one?”

“I’m still…mad. At myself.”

Jess raised her eyebrows. After he didn't speak, she prompted, “Continue.”

Poe sighed. This he could talk about without his voice threatening to give out. “I’m mad at myself for not being fast enough to help him. For getting caught by the First Order. For taking it out on you. For all of it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “If I was better, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“You’re the best kriffing pilot in the fleet. _Better_ doesn’t exist.”

“Maybe it should.”

“You did your best—more than anyone else could have. No one could have asked you to do more.”

“It doesn’t feel that way. Not when Muran is dead and his family is mourning him.” 

“We’ll all mourn him. We’ll mourn what we’ve lost in him. But we won’t let his legacy be one of inaction and despair. He deserves better. He would want his legacy to be one of hope and justice. So we’ll make it that.”

Poe wrapped an arm around Jess and pulled her close. “Why do you always know the right thing to say?”

“I don’t,” Jess admitted. “But I try to think of what I wish someone had said to me when I felt like that. And sometimes it works, but often it doesn’t. People only remember when it works.” 

Poe frowned. “I don’t like that you didn’t have someone who said those things to you.”

“Story of my life, Poe.”

“I hope you have people to say them now.”

“I do,” she leaned her head into his shoulder.

The two watched as the sky changed from blue to pink to orange as with the setting sun.

“I still hear him sometimes,” Poe admitted.

Jess tilted her head up to look at him in question.

“Not really, I mean, obviously,” Poe tried to explain. “But in my head. Especially when I was in the blackout cell. Is that weird?”

“Depends on what he was saying.”

Poe huffed a laugh. “Mainly telling me to shut up and stop antagonizing or backtalking Hux. I swear…I could hear Muran telling me to be quiet and to stay alive.”

“Sage advice. He always did have more sense than you.”

“Shut up,” Poe laughed.

“I don’t think it’s weird that you hear him, Boss,” Jess said. Quietly, she added, “Sometimes, I can still hear my mom and dad, too.”

“Yeah?”

Jess nodded. “I kinda hope I always do. Because even though it’s sad, I don’t want to forget the sound. Not when their faces have started to go fuzzy. But I can still hear them, clear as ever.”

“If they’re still out there, Jess, we’ll find them,” Poe said with a squeeze. “You don’t need to join the First Order for that.”

Jess opened her mouth to tell him about what she knew had happened to her father but stopped herself. This wasn’t about her. “Okay,” she said instead.

The two stood silently and watched as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

Eventually, Poe broke the silence. “Teela looked really mad at me when she came in.”

“You have some charming to do,” Jess shrugged. “You said I’m protective of her, but you should know that she’s protective of me, too. She didn’t like the yelling.”

“Does she know that even when I’m healthy, you beat me three out of every four sparring matches with your bastard love child of NRDF form and martial arts style fighting?"

“Niv called it Street Fighting, which I like. It’s less of a mouthful,” Jess grinned. “And like that changes anything.”

Poe nodded. “That’s probably fair.” He paused and looked at Jess. “I am sorry, you know. About before. You didn’t deserve that and I just…I messed up. Forgive me?”

“Of course,” Jess nodded. Poe gave her a squeeze. “It’s ok to be mad, Poe.”

“Thanks.”

“Just please, channel that rage into something better than fighting with me.”

_ Like blowing up TIE Fighters with the Resistance?  _ He thought. But instead, he said, “I hate fighting with you.”

“I hate it, too.” She nudged him gently. “Come on, time to go face the music with Teela.”

“You sure I can’t just jump off the balcony?”

“Don’t be so dramatic. And besides, it’s only two stories. You’d live and then still have to face her as she patches you up _again_.”

“Fiiine,” Poe sighed and turned towards the door. “You’ll stop her from killing me, right?”

“She’s not gonna kill you.”

“I’m just covering my bases. You’d stop her, though?”

Jess rolled her eyes. “Of course.”

When the door slid open, the sound of laughter came spilling out of the flat. Jess looked to the kitchen where Teela and Niv were cooking together. They were an odd pair: the tall human and short Bothan, but they were clearly enjoying the company.

“Having fun, I see?” Jess said, alerting the two cooks to their presence.

“Jessika, I’m sorry but you’ve officially been replaced as my kitchen assistant,” Teela informed her.

“I’m not sure why you’re telling me like I should be upset about this development. I’m certainly not gonna complain about being kicked out of the kitchen,” Jess grinned. “So you’ve met Niv.”

“I have,” Teela said. “And the boy can cook!”

“She called me a delight!” Niv added helpfully as he stirred the rice.

“He’s a delight? What about me?” Jess laughed.

Teela smirked and wiped her hands on her apron before giving Jess a hug. “Oh, hush. You’re not being replaced as my favorite.”

“Good. You hear that Lek? I’m still her favorite. So don’t let being a ‘delight’ go to your head,” Jess teased. Niv waved the spoon at her dismissively. “Let’s complete the introductions: Teela, this is Poe Dameron. Poe, this is Teela. She saved my life and yours.”

“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Poe said and offered his hand.

“Ma’am? Don’t call me that. Teela will do just fine.” The Bothan woman said and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Ok,” Poe awkwardly let his hand fall back to his side. “Um…Jess told me how she knows you. Thank you for looking out for her.”

“Based on what she’s told me, it sounds like you look after her, too,” Teela said coolly.

Jess subtly elbowed Teela. “Be nice,” she muttered under her breath.

“I think she looks after me more often than not,” Poe admitted sheepishly. “I’m lucky like that.”

A tiny quirk of her lips let Jess know that Teela was about to cave. A moment later, the Bothan woman sighed—she’d never been able to turn away someone who needed help. “How are you feeling?” Teela asked as she looked Poe up and down.

“Little sore, a little stiff. Very alive, though, which I also owe you thanks for.”

“And Jessika.”

“And Jess,” Poe agreed.

“Come sit down. Let me check you over.”

Poe nodded and followed Teela to the couch.

Jess wandered over to the kitchen where Niv was still cooking.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” she said.

“It’s simple. Just follow the instructions and season with your heart.”

“Maybe for you, but I’ve never been very good at following instructions.”

“No, you don’t say?” Niv teased.

“Shut up. You’re lucky I didn’t burn the Instant Noodles earlier today.” Jess grinned.

Niv laughed and glanced over at Teela and Poe. “They ok?”

“Why wouldn’t they be?”

“Teela didn’t seem like his biggest fan. Said you were fighting earlier.”

Jess scoffed. “It wasn’t a fight. It was just…stuff.”

She looked at the couch and tried to hear what they were saying. Teela seemed to be going through standard cognitive assessment with Poe, who was responding appropriately—at least as far as Jess could tell. Jess edged closer to catch more of their conversation without being caught eavesdropping.

“Looks like you’re healing very nicely, Poe,” Teela said and started to stand.

Poe grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. “Hey Teela, listen…I’m…um…sorry about earlier. I didn’t—”

“Jessika told me what happened. I’m so sorry for the loss of your Muran,” Teela said.

Poe smiled sadly. “Me, too. But that doesn’t excuse how I spoke to Jess. Our friendship is complicated and fiery and intense and incredibly vital to me. She is the most loyal person I know and I would do anything for her. I know she’s important to you and that you’re protective of her, but I need you to know that I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. Jess is my best friend and I care about her. She’s good for me, and I promise you, I do my best to be good for her. You can trust me with her. Plus, she could, and _would_ , kick my ass if I got out of line.”

Teela laughed at the last part of Poe’s declaration. Jess couldn’t help but grin as she watched Teela warm to Poe. Something about the open and honest smile on that Yavinese farm boy could charm and disarm absolutely everyone he met. Even a protective Teela wasn’t immune to him.

Jess looked back to the pot on the stove. “Niv, is it supposed to be doing that?”

“Oh shit. No. Um…Teela! What do I do?” Niv called. She and Poe turned to see Niv stirring a pot overflowing with blue-ish foam.

“Jessika! Help him!”

“Yeah, like I know what to do!” Jess laughed.

“Oh for goodness sake,” Teela muttered and left Poe on the couch. “Get out of the way.”

“Whatever you say,” Jess said, stepping away from the pot.

Teela turned the heat down and checked the pot.

“Did I ruin it?” Niv asked nervously.

“I think we’re alright,” Teela smiled. “Jessika, get the table set. It’s time to eat.”

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. Niv, it turned out, was a very talented cook, and Teela, when encouraged by more than one glass of wine, had been happy to entertain Poe and Niv with stories about nine-year-old Jess. The two pilots were happy to repay her with some of Jess’s more memorable moments from the Academy. Though she had protested her embarrassment being the evening’s entertainment (“Excuse me, but why is it pick on Jess day? I’m so nice to all of you!” she’d asked), Jess was happy that Teela seemed to like her friends and that her friends liked the Bothan woman. It felt oddly like bringing her friends home from the Academy to meet her mom. She had been the guest of both the Leks and the Damerons on separate occasions and was glad to return the favor, such as it was.

The conversation and laughter brought childhood memories of dinners around the table with her family to Jess’s mind. The resurgence of those memories surprised her: she hadn’t thought about those times—hadn’t _let_ herself think about them—in years. More than anything, though, the evening brought back a feeling Jess hadn’t had in a long time: she was content. She ignored the worries of what awaited her back on Hosnian Prime and the concerns that surrounded the First Order and let herself enjoy the night: cringe-worthy stories and all. Eventually, the conversation moved away from Jess’s antics and onto other topics. 

When Jess next glanced at the chrono, it was nearly 2400 and she was still sitting at the table with Teela. Poe had fallen asleep on the couch and Niv had excused himself to the guest room, leaving the two women alone for the first time in hours. Jess took the moment to say something that had been on her mind all day.

“I found the Instant Yobshrimp Noodles in the conservator,” Jess started.

“Oh?” Teela said casually as she sipped her wine.

“You don’t eat those.”

“You don’t know what I eat.”

“I know you hate Yobshrimp. And I know you don’t drink Adumari Ale. You said it’s too salty for your liking.”

“Must have been leftover from friends coming by.”

“And your medkit was suspiciously well-stocked.”

“What can I say? I’m training to be a medic. It’s a good idea to be prepared.”

“Teela--cut the crap. Are you always ready for me to drop in: hungry and injured?”

“Yes.” Teela’s response was immediate and simple.

Jess raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Why?”

Teela took another sip of her wine and considered Jess for a long moment. “I used to worry about you.”

“Why would you worry?”

“Someone needed to. The Gods know you didn’t worry about yourself. You were off, flying your ship Force only knows where and living race to race. Every time I saw you, you looked skinnier and more exhausted than the last time. Like you were spread too thin. Each time you came here, you just seemed so…lost.”

Jess gave a small smile. “I was. I wouldn’t have admitted it then, but I can now.”

“I’m glad you found your way. Even if it was pretty counterintuitive and unexpected for you,” Teela laughed. “You did good, kid. I’m proud of you.”

Jess shook her head but smiled. “Thanks, Tee.”

“And you have good friends,” Teela continued.

“You approve? Or is that the wine talking?”

“Does it matter to you?”

“Maybe a little,” Jess admitted.

“Then yes, _I_ approve,” Teela said. “And just because you have a good life now doesn’t mean I won’t always be ready for you to show up unannounced.”

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. And you can’t stop me.”

Jess smiled. “Thanks.” 

Teela lifted her wine glass and toasted Jess. “To freedom and a new life. For both of us.”

“And to friendships, both new and old,” Jess said and tapped her glass to Teela’s. They each sipped their wine. “And Teela?”

“Hmm?”

“I mean it: thank you.”

The Bothan smiled and nodded at the young woman. “Always, Jessika.”

When they had finished their wine, they cleared the remainders of their evening before Teela gave Jess a kiss on the forehead and went to bed. Jess checked her datapad one last time—she’d received another angry message from Antilles—before she got ready for bed and laid down on the cot. She closed her eyes and let her mind calm and eventually fade into sleep.

A few hours later, Jess’s eyes shot open. She took in the room around her: it was still dark outside and she was on the cot in Teela’s living room. Nothing seemed out of place, but something had woken her up. A hand grabbed her arm and shook her again.

“Jessika,” Teela’s voice hissed.

“Wha—what? Teela? What is it?” Jess asked.

“I’m sorry, but you need to get out of here,” Teela said.

“What’s happening?” Jess said, already on her feet. She glanced at the chrono glowing on the wall. 04:32.

“The First Order. They’re not here yet, but there are reports that they’ve entered the system and are looking for three criminals. I assume that means you.”

“Kriff,” Jess hissed. She reached to turn on a light.

“No. No lights,” Teela said.

Jess nodded. She moved to the couch and touched Poe’s shoulder. “Poe, wake up. We’ve gotta go.”

Poe startled awake. “What?”

“The First Order is approaching Llanic. We need to leave now. Think you can walk on your own?” Jess asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Poe slowly levered himself up off the couch.

“I’m gonna go wake Niv.”

Teela nodded and began to help Poe gather his things. When Jess disappeared into the guest room, the older woman grabbed the front of Poe’s shirt and brought him face to face with her. “Now you listen here,” she said quietly. “You had your say earlier tonight, so now it’s my turn. Let me make this perfectly clear: that young woman has had a hard life, but she’s a survivor. And she doesn’t trust easily, but she’s let you in. She’s decided to care about you. And if she’s chosen to trust you, that’s good enough for me. I’ll trust you, too. But don’t you dare screw that up. Don’t you dare hurt her.”

“I won’t,” Poe promised, hoping he could keep it.

Teela’s dark eyes stared deeply into Poe’s before she nodded and released his shirt. “Good.”

“Everything good in here?” Jess asked as she walked back into the room, Niv close behind.

“Fine, Jess,” Poe answered. “Teela was just checking my concussion,” he lied easily.

Jess nodded. “And?”

“He’ll be fine,” Teela said.

“Good. We ready?” Jess slung her bag over her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Niv said and put his bag on his back before crossing the room and picking up Poe’s.

“I can carry my own kriffing bag,” Poe muttered.

“Says the man who I carried here unconscious two days ago,” Niv replied.

Poe rolled his eyes and offered his hand to Teela. “Thanks for letting us stay here and patching me up.”

“Yeah, thank you for helping us,” Niv said.

Teela ignored the offered hands and gave each of the men a hug instead. “Happy to do it. You boys take care of yourselves. And of Jessika,” she said with a smile. “Be safe.”

“We will,” Niv promised before he and Poe walked out the door and down the stairs to the street. 

Jess started to follow them before turned around at the door and took Teela’s hands in hers. “Thank you,” she said, “for everything.”

“I meant what I said, Jessika. You’re always welcome here.” The Bothan woman hugged her close. “Now get out of here.”

Jess grinned. It was clear that the adrenaline of a pre-dawn escape had gone from worrying to exciting in her mind. “I’ll be in touch.”

“You better be. And stay safe.”

“You, too.” Jess gave a lazy salute and a cheeky grin before she turned, jumped down the stairs, and disappeared into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, I was kinda bummed that I had to split the last chapter and this chapter, cause I really didn't think this chapter would be long enough to be worthwhile. But then I started messing with it and there was plenty to work with.
> 
> Updates are coming faster right now because I've had this ending written since before I even started posting the rest of it, so now I just need to give chapters a quick polish before I post them! 
> 
> The quote from Brendol Hux's journal is not actually from Hux. Gallius Rex is actually who says it in 'Star Wars: Aftermath', but maybe Hux wrote it down? Idk. I liked it and it fit, so I used it.
> 
> There's also a line stolen from 'Bones' in here (if you're a fan). And obviously, references to 'Rogue One'. 
> 
> And finally: are you mad at Poe? Good. Me, too.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

When Poe opened his eyes, it took a moment for them to focus. His brain scanned through all the places he’d been in recent memory: the blackout cell, Teela’s living, the bunkroom on the JM-5K. This ceiling didn’t belong to any of them. When his eyes finally focused, he realized where he was: he was in a hospital room. A _Hosnian_ hospital room. He was back.

And he was floating.

_ No, that’s not right, _ he thought. He was medicated. And judging by how weightless his body felt, it was the good stuff, too.

“Commander Poe Dameron?” a voice said from across the room. An older Twi’lek nurse stood in the doorway with a datapad in her hand.

“That’s me.”

“Any relation to Kes Dameron?”

“Yeah, he’s my dad.”

“I thought so. I knew him back in the war. You have his eyes. I’m Nurse Ama’Lin. I’ve been assisting Dr. Fenbar with your treatment. Mind if I come in?”

“Please,” Poe gestured to welcome her in. He noticed that his broken finger had been rewrapped. “What’s the prognosis?”

“You’re not in great shape, Commander, but certainly not the worst I’ve seen,” she let out a laugh. “I think I treated your father for worse back during the Rebellion.”

“He still has a tendency to get injured.”

“Something else you seem to have inherited from him,” the nurse said as she swiped through his medical history. “Let’s see…broken finger, broken nose, cracked ribs and impact injuries on your right side with significant damage to the knee and shoulder, moderate concussion, severe bruising and lacerations all across your body, contusions on your wrists, black eye, stressed ligaments and tendons in your shoulders consistent with being bound for some time, recovering light sensitivity in your eyes, signs of dehydration and beginning stages of malnutrition…generally, you look like you got the hell beat out of you.”

“Sounds about right,” Poe chuckled and gasped at his jostled ribs. “Feels about right, too.”

“Are you alright? Your medication should be dulling the worst of your pain.”

“I’m fine,” Poe said as he took a careful breath in. “What do you have me on?”

Ama’Lin smiled. “Would you know if I told you?”

“I’m something of a connoisseur of hospital-grade medication.”

“Said like a Dameron,” she chuckled and checked her pad. “Let’s see…you’re on Imobilin—which is a sedative to keep you from moving around too much and aggravating your injuries, a broad-spectrum antibiotic for any healing wounds, triptophagea for the fever, hydromorphone for the pain, and a highly diluted dose of plethyl nitrate.”

“Plethyl nitrate? That should drop my blood pressure to unconsciousness.”

“As I said, highly diluted. We’re using it to regulate your blood pressure.”

“Why?”

“It’s been unstable.”

“Hmm,” Poe furrowed his brow. That was new. “The rest of that is all management medication.”

Ama’Lin smiled. “Sure you’re not a medic?”

“Na, just a semi-professional patient,” Poe smirked.

“Care to tell me how this all happened?”

“It’s confidential.” Poe had no idea if his whereabouts for the last month were actually confidential, but if he was in trouble, he wasn’t about to take Jess and Niv down with him.

“I see,” Ama’Lin made a note on her pad. “Well, it could be a lot worse. It looks like someone took good care of you before you got here. That makes our job easier. We’ll get you the rest of the way back to normal.”

“Sounds good to me. So why are you just managing my symptoms?”

“The doctor believes that the best course of action for your treatment would be a bacta immersion, so she made the decision to manage your symptoms rather than treat your injuries to allow the bacta to heal you more completely.”

“Huh.”

“Have you ever had an allergic reaction to bacta?”

“Never.”

“That’s good. I’ll go make sure we have a treatment room ready for you and will send Doctor Fenbar to see you. I will be back shortly. While I’m gone, you have a visitor in the waiting room. Shall I have reception send her in?”

“Please,” Poe said, fairly certain who his visitor was.

“I’ll be back shortly. Until then, just relax. You’re in good hands now.”

Poe gave a lazy salute as the Twi’lek walked out of the room. He leaned back against the pillows and let himself enjoy the sensation of floating.

It didn’t last long, though. Shortly after the nurse left, a knock at the door drew his attention and brought him back down.

“Well, don’t you look like hell?” a voice drawled from the doorway.

“Hey Jess,” Poe smiled and looked at his friend. It took a second for her to focus from two people into one.

“Who else?” She grinned as she dropped her bulky bag onto the floor and sat in the chair next to his bed. 

"What's in the bag?"

"Black market caf beans."

"Really?"

Jess gave him an incredulous look until she saw his blown pupils and started laughing. “Oh man, they’ve got you on the good stuff, don’t they? You’re high as a kitebird.”

“Hmm,” Poe agreed, forgetting about the bag.

“Are you floating?” Jess asked knowingly.

“Yeah,” Niv agreed and pushed himself into a seated position. When he was upright, the sensation was easier to ignore. “Nurse said I needed it.”

“You did. You gave Niv and me a pretty good scare on the ship, so I’m glad to see you’re awake—even if you’re still pretty banged up.”

“Gave you a good scare?” Poe asked. He didn’t remember that.

“You spiked a fever and then there was a sudden drop in blood pressure followed by a sudden spike….we were in hyperspace and couldn’t call anyone…it got weird for a while there,” Jess shrugged.

“I was held captive by a First Order zealot for a couple of weeks. ’Banged up’ and ‘weird for a while’ are both better options than the alternative,” Poe gave her a lopsided smile. His split lip stretched painfully from the expression.

“Please. You had like, a day and a half to recover on a couch. That’s plenty of time. You should be totally back to normal,” Jess teased.

Poe shook his head. “What happened? The last thing I remember was leaving Llanic. Were we attacked?”

“Nope. Easy flight home. As far as outside influences go, it was probably the easiest part of the last week.”

“No First Order?”

“No sign of them. Not even a blip.”

“Then why was I unconscious?”

“I told you…things got weird.”

“Did you drug me? Knock me out?”

“Did _I_ drug you? No,” Jess said. “Did some nurse or doctor here in the hospital drug you? Yes, definitely. Obviously,” she motioned to his general state. “Like I said, you’re pretty banged up. Teela helped, but even she said you needed a medical center.”

Poe chuckled. “Your tattoos are gone.”

“Karé removed them last night.”

“Last night? How long have we been back?”

“About a day. You fell asleep on the trip home and spiked a fever. Then your blood pressure started doing all sorts of jumping around, so when we got in yesterday afternoon, I brought you straight here. According to your charts—which I definitely didn’t read because that‘s illegal and I am a model citizen—you have been undergoing a whole battery of treatments and tests.”

“Why?”

“I dunno. Maybe because you were held captive by a First Order psycho?” Jess offered sardonically. “And because they weren’t exactly sure what caused your fever and changes in blood pressure. They wanted to rule out some kind of drug or whatever. Now, though, they’re thinking it’s probably your body’s reaction to the abuse it took, the adrenaline no longer holding you together, and the pressure of hyperspace.”

Poe nodded slowly. He’d heard of hyperspace causing additional medical concerns when a patient was already injured. “Where have you been since we got back?”

“After I dropped you here, I was taken straight to Command, where I received a thorough dressing down and was told that there will likely be an investigation, so I have _that_ to look forward to. Then I met up with Karé to get the marks removed. Which, fortunately, was as easy as she had promised it would be, so that’s counted as a win. _Then_ I slept for about 10 hours straight. And now I’m here and you’re all caught up.” 

“Where’s Lek?”

Jess gave a sympathetic smile. “He’s…ah…his parents are here. Apparently, the Senator from Corulag is a family friend and commed them to check in and see what the emergency was that Niv took leave for. They were waiting for him when we landed. So I’d guess he’s…explaining where he’s been and what he’s been doing for the last week.” 

“How bad is that?”

Jess laughed. “I dunno. The Leks are pretty supportive of their kids and are very anti-Empire, so he might be just fine. But I also wouldn’t be totally surprised if my invitation to their annual Festival of Life celebration has been permanently revoked.” 

“Sorry. You could always come celebrate on Yavin IV with me and dad if you want. It’s a pretty lame party, though—it’s usually just the two of us and a bottle of Corellian Whiskey.”

“I’ve been to worse parties,” Jess said. “I’m just glad you’ll be around to celebrate the next one.”

“I know I’ve said it before, but I don’t think I’ll ever say it enough: thanks for coming after me.”

“Anytime.” Jess moved from her chair to the edge of Poe’s bed. She gently put her hand under his chin and turned his head to the side and let out a low whistle. “That’s become a hell of a shiner.”

“Haven’t gotten hit again since you last saw me.”

“I have a theory that hospital lights make things worse.”

“Does it have pretty colors?”

Jess scoffed. “Not particularly.”

“Then I’ve had worse,” Poe said with a shrug.

“Really? When?” Jess teased and let go of his head to sit back.

“Kijimi.”

“Oh shit.”

Poe smirked. “A bacta treatment will make it go away. And fix my nose. Nurse says it’s broken.”

“I’m not surprised. I was pretty sure it was when I found you in that cell and you even said you thought it might be broken,” Jess said.

“I did? When?”

“Yeah, when I asked what hurt. Teela was more concerned about your concussion and figured you’d get your nose fixed later when we could get you in a bacta-immersion tank.”

“You sure you want to fix it, Dameron? I think it gives you a bit of a roguish look,” a voice interjected from the doorway.

“Admiral Antilles,” Jess greeted, jumping to her feet and snapping to attention. Poe tried to sit up, ignoring his protesting ribs.

“Commander Dameron, don’t even think of moving from that bed,” Wedge Antilles rolled his eyes. “At ease, Lieutenant Pava.” Jess relaxed into parade rest but still looked uneasy. 

“Hello, Sir,” Poe greeted.

“Hello, Dameron,” Antilles’s expression softened. “How are you feeling? Looks like you found some trouble.”

“Fantastic,” he deadpanned. “Never better. Love when the NRDF totally has my back.”

“Poe, shut up,” Jess hissed.

Antilles grimaced. “He’s not wrong, Pava. I’m sorry about that, Commander. It wasn’t my call.”

“I get it,” Poe tried to wave it away, but his anger was still evident.

Antilles nodded before turning to Jess. “Pava, you have been a difficult person to reach.”

“I’m sorry, Admiral.”

“We need to talk. Now. Come with me.” 

“Admiral—”

“Dameron needs medical care—I’m guessing a bacta immersion?—which can happen without your supervision. You can return when we’re finished. I’m sure he won’t be released until tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Yes, Admiral,” Jess nodded. She turned to look at Poe. “I’ll be back,” she told him, “I hope,” she added under her breath as she grabbed her bag from the floor.

“I’ll be here,” Poe gestured vaguely to the hospital room as his friend disappeared out the door with the Admiral. No sooner was she gone than Nurse Ama’Lin returned with a Mon Calamari that Poe assumed was Doctor Fenbar returned to the room.

“Commander Dameron, glad to see you’re awake. I’m Doctor Fenbar and I believe you’ve met my associate, Nurse Ama’Lin?”

“I have.”

“Excellent. Are you ready for your bacta treatment?” she asked.

“I suppose. But why did you wait until I’m awake just to knock me out again?”

“It does seem counter-intuitive, doesn’t it?” the doctor made a sound that Poe recognized as a Mon Calamari laugh. “But we find it is more beneficial to sedate a patient who has come to on their own rather than give a second sedative injection. Are you ready to go?”

“Sure. No time like the present,” Poe shrugged.

“You’ve had a full bacta immersion before?”

“Couple of times.”

“Good, so you’re familiar with the process? The sterile clothing, the suspension harness, and the breathing apparatus?”

“I am,” Poe said. “Unfortunately.”

Ama’Lin snickered at that. Doctor Fenbar nodded. “That is not an uncommon sentiment.”

“I’d bet not,” Poe sighed. Bacta immersions sucked—it had a slimy texture and a warmth that gave Poe the impression that he was being swallowed alive. The sedative helped—made it almost a meditative experience, but that didn’t mean that Poe was eager to hop into the tank. “But if it’s what gets me out of here, let’s do it.”

“Excellent. I’m going to give you the sedative and then we’ll take you to the tank,” the doctor explained and motioned to the hallway. A medical droid rolled into the room. “I assure you, Commander, you’ll be back to peak physical condition in no time.”

Poe watched distantly as the medical droid injected the sedative into his arm. Seconds later, he was floating again.

____________________

  
Antilles firmly held onto Jess’s arm above the elbow as he steered her down the hallway. He checked open doorways as they went before finding an empty exam room. “In here,” he said and pushed her inside. He closed the door and pulled a small device out of his pocket. The device came to life with a beep and Antilles held it in the air.

“What the hell? Admiral—” Jess said, shaking his hand off of her arm and turning on him. Antilles held a finger up to his lips, silencing her. After a moment, the small device pinged and flashed a green light.

“Checking for bugs,” he explained, pocketing the device.

“What? Why?”

“Not important right now, Pava. But we don’t have much time.”

“Admiral,” Jess tried again, “I can—”

“Jessika, why didn’t you respond to any of my comms?” Antilles cut her off.

“Seemed like you were planning on killing me and I figured I could wait on that until I got back.”

“Dammit, Pava,” Antilles groaned. “Sometimes you are your own worst enemy. I was trying to _help_ you. But because you didn’t respond, we don’t have much time to get a lot of things sorted. Now, I need you to listen very carefully to everything that I’m about to tell you because Command is furious with you. With what you did. And if you don’t do exactly as I say, you will find yourself in the middle of an investigation that will not end well for you.”

“Admiral, I—”

“No, just listen,” he demanded. He took a deep breath before he continued, “I know where you were. I know what you were doing. And by now, all of Command knows, too. But officially, you were on leave. And you didn’t use any NRDF ships or weapons. Right?” He waited for her to nod in agreement. “What matters in all of this is that _right now,_ there is no official record of where you went or what you did. What you did on your leave is your business and therefore, _it wasn’t a mission_.” Antilles emphasized the last few words.

Jess’s eyes grew wide with understanding. “But if it wasn’t a mission—”

“Then you can’t file a report about it.”

“But the First Order is out there! They have Star Destroyers, Admiral. And troops. Hux said he would have 40,000 troops on that Star Destroyer within the _week._ And that’s just one Destroyer!” Jess reached in her bag for the Stormtrooper helmet and shoved it into Antilles’ hands. “Look at it. You know that’s not a relic of the Empire. That’s a brand new, updated, state-of-the-art Stormtrooper helmet. They’re training Stormtroopers, Admiral. And not just a few. Hundreds of thousands of them. The First Order is moving, and if we don’t do something soon, they’re going to destroy us.”

“Pava—”

“The guy who had Dameron? His name is Armitage Hux—he’s Brendol Hux’s son. He’s a kriffing General in their forces. They’re organized, Admiral. And he knew me. He knew who I was and everything about me.”

Antilles frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what I said: he knew my name, my home planet, my family, that I was a slave, that _you_ found me on Cantonica, my service record—he had all of it. Someone from _here_ sent him a file with all of my information. I don’t know who or how, but he _knew._ Someone gave him that information. He has someone on the inside!”

“Who?”

“I told you, I don’t know! I don’t even have a guess. It could be anyone. It could even be you!” Jess shouted. As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she was wrong.

“Really, Pava?” Antilles glared. “You would accuse me of that?”

“No. I…I didn’t mean to imply anything or accuse you of something. I know it’s not you. I’m sorry. I…” Jess could feel herself getting flustered. She sighed and took a deep breath to compose herself before again making eye contact with the Admiral. “Wedge,” she said quietly. Pleadingly.

Antilles stiffened. For all her attitude and defiance and chronic disregard for authority, not to mention the unique complexity of their relationship, she had always called him by his rank and last name. She had always shown him respect. He could count on one hand the number of times Jess had used his first name in the past four years—she never did it lightly.

Jess continued. “I’m telling you, Admiral, he has someone on the inside. Someone in his pocket. He knew things he shouldn’t have—things that no one is supposed to know about me—not without having a very high clearance. He tried to recruit me.”

“He tried to recruit you?” Antilles repeated disbelievingly.

Jess nodded.

“What did you say?”

“I told him to go to hell,” she shrugged. “Maybe not in those exact words, but he got the gist.” 

Antilles’s lips quirked. “That’s the Pava I know. What else?”

She cleared her throat. “He knew more, too. He knew more about me than anyone in the NRDF knows, at least to my knowledge. He told me that someone in the First Order had owned my father.”

“Your father?”

“Yeah,” Jess nodded. “He said that my father died in an accident…building that kriffng Star Destroyer: that there was a breach in the hull and he was vacuumed out into the black where he died. That whole thing was built by slaves, Admiral. I’m glad we crashed that ship. I know the entire NRDF has orders to not engage the First Order and I know I disobeyed orders to take that ship down, but I don’t regret it. Not for a second.”

“Damnit, Jess,” Antilles hissed. He looked away and schooled his expression before looking back to the young woman. “Are you sure your information is accurate?”

“And now _you’re_ the one doubting _me_?” Jess demanded, betrayal threatened at the edges of her expression.

“No. No, I believe you, Pava, and I am so sorry that you were betrayed like that. And I’m sorry about what happened to your father and how you found out about it. And,” he sighed, “I’m sorry for what I’m about to say, but if you report _any part_ of what you’ve told me, you’ll be setting yourself up to be court martialed. What you found was not found in the line of duty, so you _can’t_ report it. To make matters worse, you admit that you had orders to not interfere with the First Order and what did you do? You disobeyed them! You went and took out a Star Destroyer. It’s like you kicked a kriffing redjacket nest. If you do report anything about this past week, the absolute _best-case_ scenario is you will be court martialed and then demoted to private and grounded for life. Do you hear me, Jessika? You will never fly again with the NRDF if you report this. And you might not ever fly again if they find you guilty and send you to Megalox.”

“But you said they all know. So what does it matter?”

“Pava, if you don’t file a report, they can’t touch you. They might _know,_ and that might drive them insane,but they can’t do anything about it. They can’t retaliate.”

“What if I submit a report and then immediately resign my commission?” Jess tried. “I don’t care about a Dishonorable Discharge or a court martial as long as the information gets out!”

“It doesn’t work like that. If you make a report and are court martialed and found guilty, _which you will be_ , everything you report would get thrown out for being illegally obtained evidence since it was gathered on an unsanctioned mission. It’ll be in the recycler before you even make it to Megalox. Your sacrifice would be for nothing and you have worked too hard for that to be your fate.”

“So I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t?” Jess growled. “If I say anything, I ruin my career and any chance I had at doing something good. But If I stay silent, the First Order wins.”

“Right now, Pava, there is no official record of where you went or what you did. You were on leave. But the second you make a record of it…” Antilles sighed and ran a hand over his face. “The second you make a record of what you saw and what you did, you put a target on your back that I can’t protect you from.”

“I don’t need you to protect me,” she retorted.

“Yes, you do,” Antilles said.

“Since when? I took care of myself before I ever met you.”

“Jessika, just stop. Listen to me.” Antilles ran an exasperated hand through his hair.

Jess watched the man’s face flicker between emotions. Ever since she had met Wedge Antilles, she had known he was a man who wore his emotions on his face. It was one of the reasons she had trusted him in the first place. This time, what she saw surprised her. “You’re scared.” 

“Command is pissed. Between whatever you want to call this thing you did and the shit Dameron pulled over in the Mirrin sector, you two have given their public image a black eye.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? Pava, you know that pilots are leaving the NRDF every day to go fight for the Resistance. And now not one but _two_ of their stand-out pilots have gone rogue on them. What Dameron is being charged with is the exact same as what you’ll be charged with if you report anything. But you…Jessika, if you get court-martialed, they will hang you out to dry. They’re looking for blood in the water. Dameron is more prominent than you and holds a higher rank. Plus, his case has complications because it relates to an active mission. But you went off alone and disobeyed orders. So yes, Pava, I’m scared. I’m scared of what could happen to you. And you should be, too.”

“You said two. Niv was with me.”

“They can’t touch Lek.”

Jess squeezed her eyes closed and leaned her head back. “Because of his family, right?” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“Right. But you, Pava…compared to those two, you’re an easy target.”

“Cause I’m a no-one.”

“Jessika…” Antilles said, exasperated.

“No, I get it,” Jess spat. “This is such bullshit.”

“It is, Pava, and I’m sorry.”

“So what do I do?” Jess shouted. “What the kriff do I do, Admiral? Cause I don’t know anymore!”

“Keep your voice down,” Wedge admonished her. Jess shot him a withering look. “Officially? You let it go.”

“Excuse me?”

“You let it go. You forget all about Arkanis. Forget about what you saw and what you did there.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kriffin—"

“There are hills worth dying on, Pava, and there will be plenty of them in your future. But this is not one of them,” Antilles warned her. “At least, not right now.”

Jess clenched her jaw. Her hands shook as she seethed with anger and frustration. “It’s going to happen again,” she whispered Poe’s words. “It’s going to happen again,” she repeated louder.

Antilles nodded sadly. “It probably will.”

“The galaxy is going to descend into war and people are going to die. And the NRDF is doing _nothing_ to prepare for it. Nothing to stop it.”

“You’re probably right,” Antilles agreed. 

“It’s such bullshit,” Jess muttered dryly. She glared at the far wall, but her expression morphed from anger to consideration. She hesitated before saying, “You said ‘officially’. _Officially,_ I should let it go,” she turned to look at Antilles. “So what should I do _unofficially_?”

Antilles smiled. “That’s one of the things I like the most about you, Pava: you’re smart and you’re quick on the uptake. Unofficially, I want you to write down absolutely everything you can. Everything you saw, heard, and remember. Materials, troop movements, numbers, names, dates—whatever you have, I want you to write it in a report. No detail is too small. I want this to be the best report you’ve ever written, but do not save it anywhere but on a removable disk and when you’re done, give that disk directly to me.”

“What will you do with it?”

“I’ll get it to someone who _will_ do something with it.”

“Who are you going to give it to?”

Antilles smiled apologetically. “I can’t tell you that, Pava. Just…trust me on this. I promise you, it’ll make its way into the right hands.”

Jess sighed. “So I write the report and give it to you to give to whoever. And then what?”

“And then I want you to forget all about that report.”

“Forget about it?” Jess raised her eyebrows. “Just go back to being a good soldier like nothing happened?”

“There will be a time for you to fight this war, Pava. But this…this isn’t that time,” Antilles said softly.

“This war,” Jess said softly. “That’s what Dameron said, too. That war is coming.”

Antilles clenched his jaw. “It might be.” 

“This whole thing—the whole government: the Senate, the NRDF…all of it…it’s toxic, isn’t it? It’s rotting from the inside out. And it’s going to kill itself.” Jess clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. She could feel the anger racing through her veins.

“It’s not…” Antilles started to deny it, but the words died on his lips. She was right and they both knew it. He sighed. “This isn’t what I promised you. I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s not fair—what you’re asking me to do,” Jess whispered—furious with herself for how small her voice sounded. Angry tears prickled at her eyes. She tried to wipe them away before Antilles could see them.

“I know. If there was any other way…”

“But the galaxy isn’t fair, is it? Try as we might to bring fairness to it, it just isn’t.” Jess looked at her mentor and the defeated expression on his face. “Fine. I’ll write the report and then forget this ever happened.”

Antilles let out a sigh. “Thank you.”

“Don’t…don’t thank me for this,” Jess bit out, “for _agreeing_ to go along with this.”

“It’s for the best right now. And you’re right: It’s not fair. I wish you weren’t caught in the middle of this political pissing match. I’m sorry it has to be this way,” Antilles put his hand on her shoulder.

Jess clenched her jaw and looked away, willing the angry tears to go away. “It’s fine. It’s whatever. It’s…typical, isn’t it? For me, I mean. Just another _typical_ part of the mess that is my life.” 

Antilles sighed. “Aw, don’t say that, kid. Listen, I can’t say this publicly, but I support you. You did good. I think you did the right thing.” He grinned lopsidedly. “It’s exactly the kind of thing I would have done at your age, and I’m proud of you for doing it.” He moved so he was eye to eye with Jess. “You’re a good person, Pava, even if all of this makes you feel less than.”

Jess gave a half-hearted smile. “Thank you, Admiral.” She exhaled sharply. “Should I assume this conversation is off the record? Since you were checking for bugs?”

“Yes,” Antilles nodded. “Very much so.”

“Understood.”

“Get that report to me ASAP, Lieutenant. Stale intel isn’t going to help anyone.”

Jess reached in her pocket and pulled out the datacube. “You can start by giving them this.”

“What is that?”

“A copy of a database from Arkanis. Not everything on there is current or even useful. And there’s a fair bit that’s been redacted. But there’s a lot that’s good.”

“Where did you get this?” Antilles asked. “Why do you have it?”

“I didn’t get it from anywhere,” Jess smiled sardonically. “I was never there.”

“No, you weren’t, Lieutenant Pava,” Antilles smiled and nodded. “No, you weren’t.”

“And I don’t have anything, either, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Antilles smiled. “I get the message, Pava. You’ll forget, just like I asked. Thank you.” He let out a sigh of relief.

Jess nodded and gave a small smile. “You’ll have my report in the morning, Admiral.”

“Excellent,” Antilles clapped his hands. “I’ll see you then. Dismissed.”

Jess saluted and turned to leave.

“I meant what I said, Pava,” Antilles said to her back. “You did good. You’re a good pilot and a good person. Even if Command doesn’t always see it.”

Jess paused but said nothing before she left the room, the door silently closing behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about medical procedures or military happenings, so none of this is accurate. To be fair, though, I'm an expert in very little and this is a galaxy far, far away, so maybe things are different.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of my "Linked by the Universe" Series. AKA I read the entire Poe Dameron comic series in a 3 day period and decided that Jessika Pava needs more storytime. So I wrote it for her.
> 
> Mostly canon, but with some creative license. I added like, 2-3 months between TFA and TLJ. It's fine. But that doesn't even matter for this story because this is pre-Resistance.
> 
> Anything you think you recognize/think may have been stolen from another fandom, it's entirely possible. (Nothing intentionally stolen from other writers, though.) "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." -T.S. Eliot
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see something, tell me. Or if you think I'm missing any tags, let me know. Kudos and comments adored! I reply to all comments because if you're gonna take the time to read my stuff and say something about it, I'll take the time to reply.

* * *

Poe was back in his hospital room, floating again. This time he knew it was from the combination of the sedative and the bacta treatment. Doctor Fenbar said that she thought that he’d likely need a second immersion to fully heal the bruises, cuts, and muscle stiffness, but that she was overall pleased with his healing so far. Poe had always found the healing properties of bacta odd—it always seemed like it fully healed the worst injuries first and left the more superficial ones for later. He assumed there was some technical or medical explanation for it, but he’d never bothered to find out.

“You are, without a doubt, the absolute luckiest bastard in the galaxy,” Karé’s voice filtered through the fog in his head. “Did you make a deal with a Sith Lord? Sell your soul or something?”

“Na, I just have really good friends,” Poe said quietly and looked at the doorway. Karé stood there with a rucksack over her shoulder, her expression somewhere between pissed and relieved. “Hey Karé,” he said casually as he struggled to push himself up. 

“Don’t you just ‘hey Karé’ me like nothing happened,” Karé said. She crossed the room in three long strides and helped him sit upright. 

Poe frowned. He was surprised to see her in civilian clothes rather than her flight suit or uniform. “Why are you in civvies?” 

Karé’s brow furrowed. “How hard did you hit your head?” she asked, neatly ignoring his question. Poe could tell she was asking about the severity of his head injury for some reason, but couldn’t figure out why it mattered right now—he was back, he was in the hospital, and he would be fine.

“Hard enough, I guess.”

She gently moved his hair away from the now mostly-healed cut on his forehead. “That looks like it was painful.”

“It was.” Poe admitted. He gestured vaguely to the chairs against the wall. “Take a seat.”

“No thanks. I won’t be here long.” 

Poe furrowed his brow. “Why not?”

“I’ve got places to be, Dameron. Can’t just stay here with you all day. One of us still has work to do to get ready.” 

“Get ready for what?” Poe asked.

Karé gave him a concerned look. “Are you sure you’re ok?” she asked. Poe noticed that she was still avoiding answering his questions.

“I’m fine.” Poe shrugged, not wanting to press the matter. He knew Karé well enough to know that if shedidn’t want to tell him, she wouldn’t. He looked Karé over: her hair was different—still blonde, but no longer tightly braided. She’d cut it short and it was now spiky in the front—definitely not an NRDF approved style. “You changed your hair.” 

Karé nodded and smiled. “It’s new. Do you like it?”

Poe nodded. “It suits you.” 

“Thanks. Felt like it was time for a change, you know?” She stepped closer to the bed and perched on the edge. 

“Thought you didn’t want to sit down,” Poe teased as Karé rolled her eyes at him. Now that she was closer, Poe could see the dark circles under her eyes. “How are you?”

Karé sighed and crossed her arms across her chest. “Relieved is probably the best word for how I feel right now. I slept well for the first time in weeks last night. And I’m not planning a funeral for another squadmate. So all things considered, I’m alright.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“I know you are. But you can never do that to me again, Dameron, you hear me? I don’t think I can take going through this again. And neither can Iolo.” 

“Definitely wasn’t planning on doing it this time,” Poe muttered sheepishly.

“I know that, but…” Karé sighed and ran her hand through her spikey hair, “I mean it, Dameron: never again.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Poe grinned and gave a lazy salute. 

“I’d ask how you are, except I think I can see for myself.” Karé gestured to his entire being.

Poe raised an eyebrow. “Just got back from a bacta treatment, so I’m better than I was. And even before that, I was much better than I could’ve been.”

“I don’t doubt that.” 

“Wanna read my charts?” Poe offered.

Karé let out a chuckle. “Pretty sure that’s illegal.” 

“Didn’t stop Jess.”

“Nothing stops Pava when she puts her mind to something,” Karé smiled. “That’s why I asked her to find you.” 

“I know. Thank you for that—for sending Jess.”

“Iolo and I couldn’t go ourselves. Jess was the only option in my mind—the only person I trusted enough to send. I knew she’d bring you back.”

Karé’s comment about not being able to search for him herself reminded Poe that, last he knew, she wasn’t supposed to talk to him. Poe leaned his head back against the wall. “What are you doing here, Karé? What’s going on?”

“What, I can’t come to see my Commander in the hospital?” Karé gave Poe a cheeky grin. 

“We both know you’re not supposed to be anywhere near me. With the investigation into Muran’s death and my actions in the Mirrin sector, I know you were told to keep your distance.”

Karé’s smile faltered again. “Right. That was what was happening when you left.” 

“Things have changed that much?” 

Karé nodded. “Iolo and I resigned our commissions last week. Yesterday was my last day with the NRDF.” 

“Why did you do that so soon?”

A frown crossed Karé’s face. “Soon? Poe, did you lose time?” 

“I don’t think so? I was in a blackout cell, so things got disoriented, but I don’t think I lost anything significant.”

“Do you not remember what today is?”

“I don’t understand what you mean. Why does that matter? What’s going on?” 

“We got word from Organa—the plan is still a go. We’re leaving tonight,” she explained patiently.

“Tonight?”

“Yeah. Once she heard that your treatment was mostly complete and that you were stable enough to travel, she made the call. She has a shuttle and everything ready to go. We’re supposed to meet her at 1900 at the Tai-Lin Garr Spaceport in the Senatorial Terminal.”

“No, that can’t be right. We’re not supposed to leave until the end of the month.”

“It’s the 34th of Kelona, Poe,” Karé replied. “You were gone for almost four weeks. Next week is Republic Day.”

“Shit,” Poe whispered. He didn’t realize how much time had passed. There had been so much he had meant to do before leaving that he now didn’t have time for. Most of it wasn’t urgent, but… “What about my housing unit?”

“Iolo and I already cleaned out your unit—both here and on the Mirrin base. It’s in storage or packed to go with us.” She smirked. “And BeeBee-Ate is waiting for you, too.”

“Aww, buddy! They’re good?”

“Of course your droid is fine. They’re self-sufficient. Drove me and Iolo insane, though. Asked for _My Pilot_ and _My Ship_ updates all the time.”

Poe started to laugh until a realization hit him. “Oh, _kriff_! What about my X-Wing? It was my personal one, not an NRDF one. And it’s still on Arkanis. I definitely can’t go back for it—”

Karé cut him off. “Relax, it’s been taken care of.”

“How?”

“Snap Wexley went and got it for you. I guess the bounty hunter who helped Pava and Lek found it and got in touch with him to get it back to you. Because _of course_ the Wexleys have the type of relationship with a bounty hunter that she’d call them when she finds a missing Republic ship. Anyway, Snap said it’s a little beat up, but nothing unrepairable. It’ll be at the Resistance base when we land.”

“What about—”

“Look,” Karé interrupted him, “I know your brain is still a Sullustan Scramble and you’re thinking of all the things that you wanted to do but won’t get done before we leave. Don’t worry about it. Iolo and I took care of most of them. And anything we missed…probably wasn’t important.” She dropped the rucksack on the foot of his bed. “So come on: get dressed. It’s time to go.”

Poe reached for the bag but hesitated. “Wait, Karé.”

“Don’t say you’ve changed your mind,” Karé groaned. “We’ve done too much work for you to get cold feet now.”

“I haven’t. I just need to say goodbye to Jess.”

“Poe—”

“Karé, she deserves it. You know she does. Just—five minutes. Please. Give me five minutes with her.” 

Karé was quiet for a minute. “You haven’t told her yet, have you?”

Poe shook his head. “No.” 

“Why not, Dameron?” Karé demanded. “She’s a good pilot. And the Resistance needs good pilots.”

“Look who has a newly evolved opinion of Pava?” Poe tried to tease, but he could hear how flat his voice was. 

“She’d join if you asked,” Karé said.

“I know she would,” Poe said quietly. “That’s why I can’t ask her.”

“Poe…”

“You know the same things I know about her, Karé. You know how hard she’s worked to get where she is. I can’t ask her to leave all of that.”

“Goddamn it, Dameron. _Why haven’t you told her?”_ Karé chastised him. “What were you thinking?”

“Karé…you and Iolo and me…leaving for the Resistance…it was inevitable. Muran,” he cleared his throat, “Muran was just the final straw, wasn’t he? We were all on our way out even before the whole thing with the _Yissira Zyde.”_

“Yeah, I guess,” Karé agreed with a nod. Poe could hear the anger in her voice. 

“The three of us…we have nothing left here. But Jess…” Poe looked at her imploringly. 

“But she does,” Karé sighed.

Poe nodded. “Jess has a life here. She’s worked through Rivin V and Ibanjji, she graduated top in her class, she has friends and was assigned to a squadron…” his voice faded away.

“She’s doing well here, isn’t she?” Karé asked.

“She is. Better than anyone—including herself—ever expected. And I don’t want to take her away from that.”

“She’s gonna be mad at you for leaving,” Karé said.

“We’ve been on Mirrin for over a year. She’s done just fine without me here. She’ll be ok. I don’t want her to feel like she has to join the Resistance.”

“But it would be _her choice_ to join, Poe. She’s an adult and can make that choice for herself. You don’t need to use kid gloves with her,” Karé argued.

“It’s not a fair choice to give her, Karé. Not when her life has already been so unfair. Not when she finally has some good happening in it,” Poe inhaled deeply and was pleased to find that his ribs didn’t ache anymore.

“ _You_ are a big part of that good, Dameron. You know that. And the Resistance could be good for her, too. She has as much reason as anyone to hate the First Order. They perpetuate the slave trade. I’m sure she’d be glad to take them down,” Karé said, trying to reason with Poe.

“She wouldn’t be leaving the NRDF and joining the Resistance because she wants to or thinks it’s the right thing to do. She’d be doing it out of…misplaced loyalty to me. Let me do it this way. It’s for the best for her—I know it is,” Poe said. “I’ll say goodbye and then we’ll disappear quietly tonight. Then she can move on with her life. But she deserves a goodbye.”

“Why do I get the feeling this plan is gonna backfire?” Karé muttered to herself. 

“Karé, please.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Karé muttered.

“I do.” 

Karé considered for a moment before closing her eyes and leaning her head back. “Fine,” she said. “You’re right—she deserves a goodbye. But then, we’ve gotta go.” 

“I know.”

Karé grabbed the rucksack. “I’ll go stall Organa. But I mean it, Poe—five minutes with Jess and we’re out.” 

“Thank you,” Poe nodded.

“Should I wait and time you?”

“No, you can’t be here when she gets here. She’ll know something’s up.” 

“I’m a far better liar than you, Dameron.”

“Not when you’re about to desert.”

Karé rolled her eyes and flipped Poe off before she disappeared out of his room. 

Poe closed his eyes. _This is the right thing to do_ , he told himself again. He was sure of it. And he was sure Jess would understand: she was smart and tactically minded—she would get why he was leaving. Plus, she was the one who had told him that the best way to keep a secret was to never tell anyone. Or…something like that. He huffed a breath. This was not a conversation he wanted to have. Ever. And he didn’t want to tell Jess goodbye.

He tried to think of what he could say to her without telling her his plans. While in the blackout cell, he’d thought a lot about his last interactions with the most important people in his life. The interaction he had hated reflecting on the most was how he had left things with Jess when he left her standing alone in the landing bay before going to Arkanis. He wouldn’t do that again. While in that cell, he had sworn to himself that if he got the chance—if he ever had to do it again, he’d do it right.

A soft knock on the door brought Poe back to reality.

“You awake?” Jess asked softly.

“Yeah, come on in,” he invited her into the room, pushing himself back up on the bed. Whether or not he felt ready, Jess was here and he needed to say…something. He still wasn’t sure exactly what.

“You certainly look better,” Jess said as she tossed her jacket and bag onto the foot of his bed before she dragged a chair over to his bedside.

“Miracles of modern medicine. But I can’t get the taste of overripe jogan fruit out of my mouth,” Poe complained. “The aftertaste of bacta is the worst.”

“It’s not that bad,” she dropped into the chair and kicked her feet up on the edge of his bed. “You’ve never had a kolto treatment before, have you? If you had, you would think of bacta as a treat.”

“Get your feet down, you heathen,” Poe teased and batted at her boots. “What were you, born in a barn?”

“No, but I was kept in a garage for a while,” she said with a shrug.

Poe flinched at the retort but collected himself quickly. “How’d your talk with Antilles go?”

Jess’s face quickly turned sour. She dropped her feet back to the ground and glared out the window. “I should have just called him back while we were at Teela’s.”

“And why didn’t you?”

“Thought it would be worse if I did. Didn’t really want to get yelled at by him via holocomm and then again in person. Guess who was wrong on that one?” Jess pointed to herself and gave a humorless laugh. She rocked back onto the back two legs of her chair. “I have some serious self-sabotage going on up here,” she said with a tap to the side of her head.

“What happened?”

Jess tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling. “It’s such bullshit,” she ground out through clenched teeth.

“What?”

She shook her head. Wisps of dark hair that had escaped her braid hung loosely by her ears. “All of it. I can’t _say_ anything. I can’t _do_ anything.”

“Why not?”

Jess sighed and dropped the chair back onto all four feet. “It’s a catch-22,” she said and looked Poe square in the eye. “It was an unauthorized mission because _technically_ Niv and I were on leave, so there is no official record that I went to Arkanis, which means I can’t report it as being discovered in the line of duty. But because there’s no record, Command can’t do anything to punish me, even though literally all of Command knows where I went and what I did. But if I _officially_ report it I’ll be setting myself up for a court-martial since I disobeyed direct orders and engaged with the First Order. And if I’m court-martialed…”

“Everything you report gets thrown out anyway for being illegally obtained evidence,” Poe groaned when he realized the mess Jess was in. “We know that the First Order is responsible for what happened to Muran and we know—WE _KNOW_ —that the First Order has legions of Stormtroopers. And we know that they have Star Destroyers and TIE Fighters and spies on Hosnian Prime and weapons and funding coming from somewhere— _we know_ they’re preparing for war. But Command won’t do anything with what we know because you obtained the intel ‘illegally’ on an unsanctioned mission.”

“That about sums it up,” Jess sighed. “We played every loophole to our favor, but there isn’t a loophole out of this one. And there isn’t a ‘proper channel’ way to do this that doesn’t involve me keeping quiet or likely going to prison for a long time.”

“Kriff.”

Jess gestured dramatically. “My thoughts exactly.”

“What does Antilles think you should do?”

“Officially? He says to let it go. He said this isn’t worth the mess it will cause and that if I pursue it, the most favorable outcome on a long list of awful outcomes for me would be getting knocked back down to private and grounded for life. And even that seems unlikely with my less-than-perfect past.”

“I thought that your criminal record was expunged by the deal Antilles arranged for you.”

Jess winced. “Expunged from the record doesn’t mean people forget about it. People have long memories when they don’t trust you.”

“So Antilles wants you to drop this?”

“Officially, he said to let it go and forget all about it. In his exact words, _this is not the hill to die on_.”

Poe’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe Antilles of all people was dismissing this! “This isn’t the hill to—”

“Unofficially,” Jess cut him off, “he told me to write up a full report with every single detail I can remember and give it to him. He said he’d get it into the hands of someone who can do something with it—someone who _will_ do something with it—but that once that’s done, I should still forget about it for my own sake: to keep myself safe.”

 _Admiral Antilles is going to give Jess’s intel to General Organa…to the Resistance_ , he realized. “So what are you gonna do?” Poe asked eventually.

“I’m gonna write up the report, obviously. If Antilles knows someone who will do something, I’ll give them everything I have. But after that…I dunno.” Jess shrugged. “I don’t want to lose my job, but what’s the point of what we do if we don’t respond to the threats we see in front of us?” She tilted her head back to look at the ceiling and let out a growl. “Gah! This is so frustrating. What good am I doing if I can’t do any good about this?”

For an agonizing moment, Poe second-guessed his plan. He thought about telling Jess about leaving to join the Resistance and let the scenario play out in his head. He knew how it would go—could practically hear it:

_“Jess, you asked on Llanic if I wanted to leave the NRDF. Remember?” he’d ask._

_She would smirk and roll her eyes. “I’m not the one with a head injury, Boss. Of course I remember.”_

_“I’ve decided: I’m leaving,” he’d tell her. “I’m joining the Resistance. I want you to come with me.”_

_“Ok, when do we leave?” Jess would agree quickly and without any second thoughts or reservations._

_Poe wouldn’t hear her at first. “It won’t be easy. And there are a lot of risks. But…after Muran’s death, I can’t stay here.”_

_“Right. When do we leave?” She would repeat her willingness to go—make sure he heard her this time._

_“You’re coming?” This development wouldn’t actually surprise him, but Poe would check to be sure that he heard her correctly. He wouldn’t leave room for misunderstandings with something this important._

_“Obviously.” He would see the adventure and loyalty in her eyes—the same thing that he saw anytime they flew together._

_“General Organa wants me to leave tonight. I know it’s short notice—” He would try to apologize for not giving her more warning. He’d worry that it would be a reason she wouldn’t come along._

_Jess would cut him off easily with a wave of her hand. “I’ll be there. Just tell me where to be and when to be there and I’ll go pack now.”_

_“It might make things weird with the NRDF.” Poe would lay it all out for her. He wouldn’t have her following him without knowing everything that was at stake._

_“Screw the NRDF,” Jess would shrug. And she would mean it. She’d never cared that deeply for the military, anyway. “Besides,” she’d add, “I held up my end of the deal—I did my three years at the Academy and finished in good standing. I’m free to walk away.” Her defiant streak made the NRDF a difficult place for her and she had, in Antilles’s words, a chronic disregard for authority figures—which also didn’t help the matter. That would remind Poe…_

_“Antilles might me mad.” He would say. One of the few people who Jess respected at all times and of her own volition was the Admiral. He would remind her of him—of the impact her departure may have on their relationship._

_Jess would shrug. “He was in the Rebellion. He’ll understand. Plus, he knows me. He knows what he signed up for by bringing me in.”_

_Poe would know that she was right—Antilles would understand. He would probably be supportive of it, too. He might be angry at first, but that would fade quickly. Same as Kes, Poe would realize—whenever Poe got around to calling his dad._

_“You don’t have to come,” Poe would say one more time—give her one more chance to opt-out._

_“I’ll follow you anywhere, Boss,” She’d say with a mischievous grin. “Wouldn’t miss it.”_

_The simplicity of it would stun him momentarily before he would realize that that was undisputedly on brand for Jess. Jess, his best friend. Jess, who had eyes full of mischief and adventure and fire. Jess, who overcame every odd meant to destroy her. Jess, who always found a way when everything seemed impossible. Jess, who was loyal and brave and crazy and was willing to follow him across the galaxy simply because he asked her to._

_And that realization would both terrify and comfort him._

Poe pushed the scene from his head because _yes—_ it would be that simple. She would go with him without a second thought. And that was exactly why he couldn’t tell her his plan. He dismissed the thought of telling her—Jess had worked hard to build a life for herself here and he wasn’t going to be the one to take that away from her—by choice or by force.

Poe opened his mouth to answer Jess’s question but was interrupted by a knock on the door. He and Jess both turned to see Nurse Ama’Lin in the doorway.

“I’m sorry, Commander, Lieutenant, but visiting hours are over,” Ama’Lin informed them.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll get out of here,” Jess nodded and stood to leave.

“Give us two more minutes. Please?” Poe asked, turning on his most charming smile. This was the last time he’d get with Jess for a long time and he still needed to say goodbye. Ama’Lin returned the smile with a nod and left the room.

“Something up?” Jess asked.

“No,” Poe lied. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to sit on the edge of his bed. “Just wanted to finish talking and say good night properly.”

“Whatever Dameron,” Jess rolled her eyes. “When did you get to be so sentimental?”

“I just got back from being held captive. I’m allowed to be a little sentimental,” Poe said a bit defensively.

Jess cringed. “I know. I'm sorry—it’s a coping mechanism. According to the doc, I try to deflect with perceived indifference or humor when I’m uncomfortable. I’m working on it. I _am_ glad we got you home.”

“I know,” Poe gave her a small smile.

“Hey, while I’m thinking of home: I checked when I was in the waiting room and no one has called Kes yet. Do you want me to? I’m sure he’d make the trip to see you. He could maybe even be here by morning if I call as soon as I leave.”

“No,” Poe said quickly. _Too quickly,_ he realized. “No, I’ll call him in a few hours. It’s the middle of the night at home and there’s no need to worry him right now. He can worry plenty in the morning.” 

Jess shrugged. “Alright. You can deal with his papa-rancor tendencies. I was just trying to save you from the inquisition,” she said with a laugh.

“You just want to talk to Kes.”

A guilty grin crossed Jess’s face. “Maybe.”

“You know you can call Kes anytime, right? You don’t have to wait until I’m in the hospital?” Poe offered. Jess had never needed permission for anything for as long as he’d known her, but maybe being told she could call Kes whenever she wanted would be helpful after… _after I leave,_ Poe finished the thought.

Jess shrugged. “I know. I send him comm messages a couple times a week.”

“You do?”

“Jokes or things that I think he’d find funny or interesting. Or embarrassing holoimages of you.”

“Introducing you two was the worst choice I ever made,” Poe groaned.

“Why do you say that? He’s fun.”

“He’s a grouch.”

“You’re his kid. You’re supposed to think that. I, on the other hand, am the charming and plucky orphan with a tragic backstory who befriended his wild son and that he has now developed a soft spot for.”

“Plucky?” Poe laughed. He already knew that he would miss this easy banter.

“Yes, plucky,” Jess grinned.

“You watch too many holovids.”

“I’m making up for lost time.” She stretched her arms over her head. “And occasionally living my own holovid adventure.”

“Where you rescue the handsome prince and defeat the villain?”

Jess quirked an eyebrow. “Handsome prince?”

“Obviously,” Poe gestured to himself.

“Sure…something like that,” Jess made a face.

“Jess—” Poe reached out and took her hand. “I’ve meant it every time I’ve said it and I mean it now: thank you—for coming for me. For bringing me home.” _Even if I’m about to leave again_ , he thought.

“Always for you,” she squeezed his hand.

Poe pulled her down and hugged her tightly, knowing it was the last time he’d see her for a long time. _Possibly ever,_ his mind added. _No, I’ll see her again. I know it. I’ll make sure of it,_ he promised himself.

“Always for you,” he repeated and kissed her hair. She gave him a bemused smile when he finally released her, almost as if she could tell there was more to this hug than usual but wasn’t sure what. But if she suspected anything, she didn’t comment on it and instead affectionately ruffled his curls.

“I should get out of here before Nurse Ama’Lin comes back,” Jess said as she stood. “She seems nice now, but I’m not sure I wanna test that.”

“She was a medic during the Rebellion. She’s tough.”

“Really?” Jess asked as she tugged on her jacket.

“Yeah. Apparently she knew my dad.”

“Alright then. Definitely not ticking her off. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to pick you up,” Jess promised.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” Poe said. The lie tasted bitter in his mouth. This wasn’t what he knew he needed to say to her, but the words were escaping him. He still didn’t know what he wanted to say.

Jess grinned and gave him a sloppy salute before she collected her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Poe tried to return it, but couldn’t: his attention had been caught by two figures standing in the hallway outside of his room. The tall one with blonde spiky hair was obviously Karé and next to her was a shorter and older woman with greying hair and sharp eyes—General Leia Organa. As soon as he saw them, they disappeared out of view before Jess could turn and see them. If Jess noticed that he didn’t return the gesture, she didn’t comment. She gave him one last smile and turned to leave.

Jess was almost to the door when Poe realized what it was he wanted to say to her before he left; what he needed her to hear him say before they didn’t see each other for a while.

“Hey, Jess!” he called.

“Yeah?” Jess asked, turning back around to face him.

 _Tell her,_ Muran’s voice said in his head. _Just tell her the truth, Dameron. Come on._

Poe ignored the voice. “You asked earlier…what good are you doing if you can’t do any good about this.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re doing a lot of good here, Jess. With the NRDF. And I know that you’re _doing_ goodbecause I know that you _are_ good.”

Jess gave him a concerned look. “You ok, Boss? Is something up?”

“No,” he shook his head and ignored the sick feeling he got from lying to her. “No. I just…I don’t want you to question if things that happen are because you’re not doing enough good to stop them. Things happen because they happen—not because of you. And don’t say you don’t think that. I know you—you can put the weight of the galaxy on yourself sometimes.”

“You talk to my psytech recently?” Jess tried to joke, but her voice caught in her throat.

Poe shook his head. “No. I’m just your friend.”

“How do you know that I’m doing good?”

“Because good does good. And you…you are so good. And I need you to know that. I need you to know that I know how good you are.” _Yes,_ he thought, _that felt like the right thing to say to her right now—the right words for our last interaction for a while—for a last memory._ He wouldn’t regret these words or this last moment with her.

Jess bit her lip and nodded slowly. “Thanks, Boss.”

“I mean it. I care about you.”

“I know. “She gave a weak smile. She crossed the room and gave him one last hug and a quick kiss on his cheek. “I care about you too,” she whispered in his ear. She leaned back a little, but not fully out of Poe’s embrace. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, ok,” Poe said—profoundly grateful he had managed to get this far without his voice shaking. He gave her a final squeeze before he let her go. “Bye, Jess.”

“Bye, Dameron. Good night!” she flashed him one last grin before she walked out of his room and disappeared from his line of sight.

Karé and Leia waited until Jess was gone before they stepped into the hospital room.

“It’s time to go, Poe,” Leia said. Karé dropped the rucksack back on the foot of his bed.

Poe nodded but continued to stare out the door after Jess. He fought the urge to shout after her to come back—to tell her where he was going and everything he was planning; the urge to ask her to come, too.

But he didn’t call out. He couldn’t bring himself to do that to his friend. Instead, he whispered, “Bye, Jess,” one more time before he forced himself out of his hospital bed. He ignored his stiff muscles as he stood and dressed before he followed Leia and Karé out a side door and into the Hosnian twilight.

_____________________

When Jess returned to the hospital the next day, Poe’s patient room was empty. The monitoring equipment was turned off and the bed had been stripped of its linens. There was no sign of the injured pilot anywhere.

Poe was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of this installment of "Linked by the Universe"! Hope you liked it! 
> 
> I wanted Poe to really wrestle with his decision to leave Jess behind in this chapter--that he didn't do it easily. I hope that was conveyed.
> 
> The story "I Want You to Do Something About It" takes place a little over a year later, but I currently do not have plans for a story between these two, so if you want to continue along, that will be the next story chronologically. 
> 
> The next story I'm going to be posting will take place prior to this one while Jess is still at the Academy and ends up on a misadventure with Poe. It's the backstory of what happened to make them as close as they are. Tentatively named "Trust this. Trust me." but I'm not sure yet. :) It will start being posted on November 1st! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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